White policeman kills black teen in St
Louis, triggering fresh protests
Send a link to a friend
[October 09, 2014]
By Kenny Bahr
ST LOUIS Mo (Reuters) - A white off-duty
policeman shot and killed a black teenager in St Louis on Wednesday,
officers said, triggering a night of protests just miles from the site
of another police shooting of another black youth in the suburb of
Ferguson.
|
Police said the 18-year-old was armed and fired three shots while
he was being chased by the officer, and they had recovered a gun at
the scene.
The youth was killed almost two months to the day since sometimes
violent protests erupted in Ferguson after a white police officer
shot dead unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown.
In Wednesday's shooting, the dead man was one of three people who
fled after being approached by the officer, a six-year veteran of
the department who was working for a private security company, St.
Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson said.
The officer, who was wearing his city police uniform, fired 17 shots
at the teenager, police added.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Oct/09/images/ads/current/cca_laptop-sda021709.png)
A crowd of around 200 gathered at the scene in the south St. Louis
neighborhood of Shaw, 11 miles (18 km) south of Ferguson. Many of
the protesters marched to a major thoroughfare, partially blocking
traffic and chanting "Whose streets? Our streets?" as a police
helicopter hovered overhead.
Teyonna Myers, 23, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that
she was the cousin of the suspect and that he was unarmed when he
was killed.
"He had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun. It's
like Michael Brown all over again," she told the paper. Police have
not named the teenager.
'MICHAEL BROWN ALL OVER AGAIN'
At one point, about a dozen people punched and kicked two occupied
police vehicles, one that was marked and another that was unmarked.
Demonstrators then broke the back window of a marked police vehicle.
None of the protesters, some of whom were from Ferguson, had been
arrested by the early hours of Thursday, police chief Dotson told a
news conference.
"I think the department showed a tremendous amount of restraint,"
Dotson said.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_040113.png)
The officer, who was not hurt, has been placed on administrative
leave and an investigation was under way, police said.
St Louis' historic Shaw district has a relatively low crime rate -
as of September, there had been no homicides this year and just five
cases of aggravated assault, according to police crime statistics.
In Ferguson, a grand jury is expected to decide next month whether
to bring criminal charges against police officer Darren Wilson, who
shot dead Michael Brown on Aug. 9.
Brown's death triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests,
prompting the governor at one point to summon the National Guard.
Missouri authorities are drawing up contingency plans and seeking
intelligence from other police departments around the country,
fearing that fresh riots could erupt if a grand jury does not indict
Wilson.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Dan
Whitcomb and Andrew Heavens)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Oct/09/images/ads/current/business_directory_filler.png)
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Oct/09/images/ads/current/ldn_gives_more_lda.png) |