Suspect killed by St. Louis police was shot in back

Police had to fire tear gas to clear the intersection.

Police swiftly said Ball-Bey “turned and pointed a gun” at officers after fleeing the home raid through the back door with another teenager. The two officers then fired a total of four gunshots towards the man, according to police. They encountered Ball-Bey and another suspect running from the home, police said.

Within an hour of Wednesday’s shooting, more than 100 people converged on the scene, taunting officers and decrying the use of deadly force. Crowds gathered and dispersed throughout the day and night.

As the grieving crowd grew, police in riot gear warned that the assembly was “unlawful”. There were two officers in the alley. Police haven’t released the full autopsy or toxicology tests yet, and have not explained why they don’t yet have statements from the officers.

Dotson said the plans for Thursday night would be affected by how people react on the street.

This post was originally published at 9:59 a.m. He remained at large.

Jermaine Wooten, an attorney for Ball-Bey’s family, said witnesses and family members told him the teen was unarmed. It was described as a handgun with extendend magazine stolen from Rolla, Mo.

“No one verifies that he had a gun”, said Wooten.

“Just because he was shot in the back doesn’t mean he was running away”. Videos taken at the scene show at least one person throwing a bottle of water at officers.

The young man’s death quickly incited peaceful protests near where he’d been shot, with around two dozen people partially blocking a nearby intersection.

Police say they recovered the gun that they say Ball-Bey had.

Demonstrators gathered after police shot and killed an 18-year-old they say pointed a gun at them.

“Fearing for their safety, two officers fired their weapons”, the police account of the shooting says.

On Sunday, a 93-year-old Tuskagee Airman who lost his way pulled over in the neighborhood to call his daughter and was robbed. He said residents in the area deserve peace. “These are disputes, and there are victims who won’t talk to the police”, he said following a spate of violence in June.

Activists are condemning the St. Louis Police Department for the shooting, with some likening Ball-Bey’s death to murder. Last month, a man was charged with felony child endangerment after his 3-year-old nephew accidentally shot himself in the head after finding a loaded gun under a pillow in a bedroom. He said the city needs to center its attention on rebuilding neighborhoods instead of building a new stadium for the Rams. “We need a clear picture that is unbiased”, said Jamira Burley, senior campaigner for Amnesty global USA.

“It could be, and I’m not saying that it doesn’t mean that”. He ran out of the residence and pointed a gun at officers, authorities said.

Bedoe Harvey, 40, of nearby Bedoe’s Barbershop, said this section of town is not all bad.

During the same conference call on Thursday, she said officers’ “militarized response flies in the face” of the settlement. “There’s lots of poverty and everything”. There were 159 homicides in all of 2014 and 120 the year before that.