At least nine were arrested in St. Louis after protesters took to the streets to express their anger over a police shooting of an armed black man.
Police were forced to toss tear gas at the 150 or so protesters, who were hurling glass bottles and bricks at the officers, Fox News reported. Officers also reported protesters burned down a building and blocked an intersection.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said those in the streets were hoping to gain some “notoriety” in an area that’s been “plagued by violence” since last summer, when white officer Darren Wilson shot and killed black teen Michael Brown in self-defense.
This latest shooting came as a result of a search warrant police were trying to serve at a home in a crime-ridden section of the city. Officers ran into two suspects, one named Mansur Ball-Bey, 18. The pair fled the home and Ball-Bey reportedly turned and pointed a gun at the police. Officers then shot him and the teen, who’s black, died at the scene, Fox News reported.
Both officers involved in the search warrant are white.
Dotson, meanwhile, told reporters at a late Wednesday night press conference police found four guns and crack cocaine at the home and are still looking for the second suspect.
About 150 people converged on the scene of the shooting, some yelling “Black Lives Matter,” the phrase popularized last summer after the death of Brown.
“Another youth down by the hands of police,” said Dex Dockett, a 42-year-old resident, the Associated Press reported. “What could have been done different to de-escalate rather than escalate? They [police] come in with an us-against-them mentality. You’ve got to have the right kind of cops to engage in these types of neighborhoods.”
Another resident, Fred Price, also said to reporters: “[Police] provoked the situation. Situations like this make us want to keep the police out of the neighborhood. They’re shooting first, then asking questions.”
