Between six and eight protesters were arrested on Wednesday following protests against police violence after the killing of another African-American youth by a police officer on Tuesday night in Berkeley, Missouri.
The site is scarcely five miles away from the spot where 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.
Local media reports named the victim as Antonio Martin (18), and his 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; Tamir 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.
Mr. 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.
