Hundreds block Pittsburgh interstate in police shooting protest

[June 22, 2018]  (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters, calling for justice after police killed an unarmed black teenager earlier this week, blocked a major roadway in the Pittsburgh area before they dispersed peacefully early on Friday, local media reported.

Antwon Rose, 17, was shot and killed on Tuesday by an East Pittsburgh police officer as he ran from a vehicle after it was stopped by police who were searching for suspect in an earlier drive-by shooting, police said earlier this week.

The death of Rose was the latest in a string of killings of black men by police that have triggered street protests and fueled a renewed national debate about bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.

Video footage captured on a cell phone that has circulated widely on social media showed two men running away from a car that was stopped in front of two police squads. Both men appear to fall to the ground as gunfire is heard on the video.

The incident has sparked largely peaceful protests in the Pittsburgh area with demonstrators calling for justice. On Thursday evening and into Friday morning, demonstrators marched before blocking traffic for hours on the Parkway East interstate outside of Pittsburgh.

Demonstrators chanted, "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now" and "Shut it down. Shut it down," Trib Total Media, a local news outlet, reported on its website.

Demonstrators heeded police orders to disperse and by 2:30 a.m. local time traffic on the main artery was moving again. Police made one arrest during the protest, Trib Total Media reported.

Police interviewed and released the driver while the second man who fled remains at large. Two guns were found in the vehicle, the Allegheny County Police Department said.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; editing by David Stamp)

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