Rumors fed unrest following St. Louis police shooting: alderman

His death sparked protests and reignited a national conversation around race and policing.

Earlier Wednesday, two police officers serving a search warrant encountered Ball-Bey and another suspect at a home in a crime-troubled section of the city’s north side, the chief said. Further, although police face a challenging job, the public must expect high standards from them, which has started to happen in light of the killing of so many unarmed Black people. A string of such incidents has led to wide-spread outcry as well as police and racial equality initiatives going all the way up to the White House.

He blamed the crimes on people seeking “notoriety” in a neighbourhood “plagued by violence”.

“Right now, you see a police officer and your first instinct is to run”, said Fred Price, 33, who lives near the shooting scene.

Police need to do more to allow for peaceful protests rather than escalate them into violence, said Amnesty global USA senior campaigner Jamira Burley, who was critical of St. Louis police actions taken Wednesday.

By nightfall, fires were set near the scene of the shooting near Page Boulevard and Walton Avenue, with at least one vehicle and vacant dwelling consumed.

David Carson/AP Three people were arrested for disrupting traffic, police said.

The St. Louis area has been on edge since a white police officer in the mostly black Ferguson community shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown on August 9, 2014.

Police said the officers were preparing to enter the home just before noon when two black teenagers, allegedly carrying guns and crack cocaine, tried to escape out a back door.

The St. Louis medical examiner also stated that Mansur would have died “nearly instantly” and said it would have been hard to impossible for him to continue running after being wounded.

Later Wednesday, police made nine arrests and used tear gas to clear a street after protesters ignored commands and threw glass bottles and rocks at officers, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said, adding that officers were also responding to reports of burglaries in the area.

Police routinely search for illegal drugs and stolen guns in the neighborhood, Dotson said. “Both officers fired”, Dotson told reporters.

For several hours after the shooting, the intersection resembled a scene from last year’s protests in Ferguson as protesters angrily faced off with cops in riot gear.

Ball-Bey turned and pointed a handgun at the officers, who shot him, authorities said. The autopsy findings will be included in an investigative report to city and federal prosecutors, who will decide whether charges will be filed in the case, police said.

An attorney for Myers’ family has insisted he was unarmed and Flanery planted the gun near Myers’ body.

Protesters were quick to the scene of the shooting, as many had already been gathered to protest the one year anniversary of the shooting of 25-year-old Kajieme Powell nearby.

Images of heavily armed police training weapons on citizens prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to tighten restrictions on police use of military equipment.