Ferguson again? Another teen shot by white officer
A video released by the police showed the suspect, said to be 18-year-old Antonio Martin, pointing a gun at the officer, who shot the teen several times, killing him
WASHINGTON: A police officer fatally shot a black teen at a gas station in St Louis, Missouri late Tuesday night after the suspect allegedly pulled a gun on him, but didn’t fire.
A surveillance video released by the police showed the suspect, said to be 18-year-old Antonio Martin pointing a gun at the officer, a white, who shot him several times, killing him.
The police said the suspect was known to them and had been involved previously in cases of weapons and stealing. A woman at the crime scene identified him as her son.
This incident took place just a few miles from Ferguson, where a black teenager, Michael Brown, 18, was killed by a white police office in August setting off countrywide protests.
Tuesday night shooting comes at a particularly sensitive time for the US which is grappling with a string of recent instances of police officers using excessive force on minorities.
Protests continue in New York city over a grand jury’s decision to not indict a police officer for causing the death of a black man, Eric Garner, a father of five, using a chokehold.
Two New York police officers were executed by an African American man last weekend in an apparent case of retaliation brought on by anti-police sentiments. Protestors began gathering around the scene of the St Louis shooting within hours and stray incidents of violence were reported by local news media outlets.
They clashed with the police, and some were arrested.
“I understand police officer have a job and have an obligation to go home to their familiar at the end of the night,” Orlando Brown, a protestor, said to AP, adding, “but do you have to treat every situation with lethal force it’s not a racial issue, or black or white. it’s wrong or right.”
The officer was not wearing a body camera, which has been issued to officers since the Ferguson shooting to record the incident and pin responsibility unequivocally.