‘Fight back!’ Crowds march in St. Louis after policeman kills teenager

Screenshot from ustream.tv/channel/bassemmasri

Screenshot from ustream.tv/channel/bassemmasri

An off-duty police officer in St. Louis, Missouri, shot and killed a man after chasing him through a local neighborhood. Citizens are marching near the site close to the Missouri Botanical Garden, chanting slogans as more officers stand by.

Protesters in St. Louis’s Shaw neighborhood

The dead man, reportedly an 18-year-old young African American,
allegedly fired at least three rounds at the officer, St. Louis
Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson said at a news conference.

Police reported recovering a 9mm Ruger from the scene.

The 32-year-old officer was heading to his second job as a
private security guard and was reportedly wearing a uniform. The
police officer has served with the St. Louis force for six years.

St. Louis Police Lt. Col. Alfred Adkins told reporters that the
officer approached four men on the street to question them.

“As he exited the car, the gentlemen took off running. He was
able to follow one of them before he lost him and then found him
again as the guy jumped out of some bushes across the
street,”
Adkins said. “The officer approached, they got
into a struggle, they ended up into a gangway, at which time the
young man pulled a weapon and shots were fired. The officer
returned fire and unfortunately the young man was killed.”

Concerns are high that this latest police killing will lead to
unrest in St. Louis.

People chanted slogans, including: “We’re young, we’re
strong, we’re marching all night long!” and “Fight back, fight
back!”

Chief Sam Dotson told news conference that during the march on
the Grand Avenue in the Shaw neighborhood several police cars
were damaged, with their windows smashed.

As in the case with Michael Brown shooting two months ago in
Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, the suspect was black, the
police shooter is white.

The fatal shooting occurred Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. in the
Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis, according to local Fox affiliate
KTVI News. Law enforcement explained that the
off-duty officer was working a secondary job when he attempted a
pedestrian check.

However, as a crowd formed at the scene, some individuals told
reporters that the suspect did not have a gun. In fact, multiple
people said he was only armed with a sandwich. They also told
KTVI that he was shot 16 times.

Local resident Teyonna Myers, 23, said the suspect’s name was
18-year-old Vonderrick Myers Jr., her cousin.

“He was unarmed,” she told the Post-Dispatch. “He
had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun. It’s
like Michael Brown all over again.”

The death of Michael Brown in the neighboring city of Ferguson
sparked a fierce backlash against police, who many in the
community criticized for using excessive force. Brown, an unarmed
African-American teenager, was shot multiple times by an officer,
and his death sparked a weeks of protests in the city – as well
as nationwide debate over police behavior.

Another relative of Myers reportedly said that before being shot,
the young man was also Tasered.

St. Louis police, meanwhile, are still conducting their
investigation into the incident.


Source Article from http://rt.com/usa/194372-stlouis-fatal-officer-involved-shooting/

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