Another African-American youth was shot dead by a police officer on Tuesday night in Berkeley, Missouri, scarcely five miles away from the spot where unarmed teenager Michael Brown was killed by a policeman in August, an event that sparked widespread civil unrest as communities protested racism and police brutality across the nation.
Although unconfirmed by law enforcement, local media reports named the victim as Antonio Martin (18), and Mr. Martin’s mother Toni Martin-Green was quoted saying, “This doesn't make any sense for them to kill my son like this… I am trying to be calm.”
According to St. Louis county Police Chief Jon Belmar, who released a surveillance video of the final moments before the youth was shot at a petrol station, the officer at the scene had been in “imminent danger” and had used “what he felt was appropriate force at that time” by firing at the youth across the hood of the car.
The death of the youth adds to a growing list of African-Americans killed in police action in several U.S. states in recent months, including Michael Brown (18) in Ferguson, Missouri, Tamar Rice (12) in Cleveland, Ohio, and Akai Gurley (28) and Eric Garner (43) in New York.
Mr. Belmar identified the police officer as a white male aged 34, adding that the officer likely fired three shots, one of which hit the youth, who however “appeared not to have discharged the gun he was allegedly pointing,” at the officer.
Although the St. Louis police released one surveillance video from the petrol station so far, reports indicated that there were multiple CCTV cameras mounted at different locations nearby and the police officer apparently had a body camera and a dash camera in his vehicle, none of whose video feeds were made available to the media.
Shortly after news of the killing went viral on social media the St. Louis suburb witnessed a protest that carried on into the early hours of Wednesday and reports noted that law enforcement resorted to using pepper spray after “several makeshift explosives were discharged from within the crowd.”
Chief Belmar said that the youth was holding a 9mm handgun that was recovered at the scene, and its serial number defaced, hinting at the possibility of the weapon being stolen or contraband.
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