St Louis police kill ‘armed’ black teenager

Police try to control a crowd on the lot of a gas station following a shooting on Tuesday in Berkeley.
Police try to control a crowd on the lot of a gas station following a shooting on Tuesday in Berkeley.
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AP, Berkeley :
A black teenager has been shot dead by police in the US city of St Louis, near where Michael Brown was killed in August triggering national protests.
St Louis County police said the man who was shot had pulled a gun at a petrol station and pointed it at an officer.
A crowd of protesters was at the scene in Berkeley, Missouri, which has been sealed off by police.
Berkeley is about two miles from the suburb of Ferguson, where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot dead.
The victim of the Berkeley shooting was named as Antonio Martin, 18, by local media citing his mother.
Police spokesman Sgt Brian Schellman said in a statement that an officer had been conducting a routine check at a petrol station on Tuesday evening when he saw two men and approached them.
He said that one of the men pointed a handgun at the officer, who then fired several shots.
The second man fled, Sgt Schellman said, adding that the handgun had been recovered.
Laura Hettiger, a reporter for St Louis TV station KMOV, told the BBC: “As soon as I got there police started firing off flash bangs which are used to, hopefully, disperse some of the crowd.
“A lot of police are still on the scene. A couple of people have ended up looting the gas station just across the street.”
Michael Brown, who was unarmed, was killed by a white police officer who said he opened fire after a struggle in a patrol car.
His death sparked protests, sometimes violent, and further unrest followed a grand jury’s decision not to charge the officer.
There were further demonstrations after the death of Eric Garner, 43, a black man who died while being held down by a white police officer in July in New York. Again, a grand jury decided against charging the officer.
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