Fatal shooting of US black teen sparks protests
AUGUST 20, 2015 : ALJAZEERA
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Police in the US state of Missouri have fatally shot a black
teenager, who they say pointed a gun at them, and later faced
angry crowds, reigniting racial tensions in the country.
Sam Dotson, the police chief of the city of St Louis, said the
shooting took place on Wednesday when young black men ran
out of the back door of a house where two officers were carrying
out a search warrant.
Officers ordered the pair to stop in an alley behind the house.
One suspect pointed a gun at officers who then fired four times,
killing him, Dotson said.
“Detectives were looking for guns, looking for violent felons,
looking for people that have been committing crimes in the
neighbourhood,” he said.
Police identified the slain suspect as Mansur Ball-Bey, 18. The
second teenager fled.
Both officers, who are white, were unharmed, police said, adding
that they were on administrative leave.
Following the incident, crowds gathered at a nearby intersection
shortly after the shooting and then again in the evening. Three
people were arrested for blocking traffic, police said.
NBC television affiliate KSDK reported that some in the crowd
threw rocks at officers, who responded with what appeared to
be tear gas.
Unrest after shooting
St. Louis television station Fox 2 showed officers in riot gear
lined up across a street, a burning mattress and clouds of
smoke or tear gas.
St. Louis Alderman, Antonio French, posted on Twitter that a
vacant house and a car were set on fire, and that firefighters
were working under heavy police guard.
Dotson the police chief told reporters that Ball-Bey’s gun was
stolen and said officers recovered crack cocaine at the scene.
The city police said the officers involved in the shooting were
white, aged 33 and 29, each with about seven years on the
force.
The shooting came 10 days after the city was flooded with
protesters marking the anniversary of the killing of unarmed
black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer on
August 9 last year in Ferguson, not far from St Louis.
Brown’s death helped spark a nationwide movement against
what protesters say is police violence against minorities.
Wednesday’s shooting also came as activists were in the area
to mark the anniversary of the police shooting of another black
man in St. Louis, Kajieme Powell. Police say officers shot
Powell when he approached them with a knife.
Leave a Comment
Police in the US state of Missouri have fatally shot a black
teenager, who they say pointed a gun at them, and later faced
angry crowds, reigniting racial tensions in the country.
Sam Dotson, the police chief of the city of St Louis, said the
shooting took place on Wednesday when young black men ran
out of the back door of a house where two officers were carrying
out a search warrant.
Officers ordered the pair to stop in an alley behind the house.
One suspect pointed a gun at officers who then fired four times,
killing him, Dotson said.
“Detectives were looking for guns, looking for violent felons,
looking for people that have been committing crimes in the
neighbourhood,” he said.
Police identified the slain suspect as Mansur Ball-Bey, 18. The
second teenager fled.
Both officers, who are white, were unharmed, police said, adding
that they were on administrative leave.
Following the incident, crowds gathered at a nearby intersection
shortly after the shooting and then again in the evening. Three
people were arrested for blocking traffic, police said.
NBC television affiliate KSDK reported that some in the crowd
threw rocks at officers, who responded with what appeared to
be tear gas.
Unrest after shooting
St. Louis television station Fox 2 showed officers in riot gear
lined up across a street, a burning mattress and clouds of
smoke or tear gas.
St. Louis Alderman, Antonio French, posted on Twitter that a
vacant house and a car were set on fire, and that firefighters
were working under heavy police guard.
Dotson the police chief told reporters that Ball-Bey’s gun was
stolen and said officers recovered crack cocaine at the scene.
The city police said the officers involved in the shooting were
white, aged 33 and 29, each with about seven years on the
force.
The shooting came 10 days after the city was flooded with
protesters marking the anniversary of the killing of unarmed
black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer on
August 9 last year in Ferguson, not far from St Louis.
Brown’s death helped spark a nationwide movement against
what protesters say is police violence against minorities.
Wednesday’s shooting also came as activists were in the area
to mark the anniversary of the police shooting of another black
man in St. Louis, Kajieme Powell. Police say officers shot
Powell when he approached them with a knife.
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