St. Louis Police Use Tear Gas on Demonstrators Protesting Fatal Shooting of African American Youth
By Dana Ford and Ben Brumfield, CNN
12:48 AM ET, Thu August 20, 2015
St. Louis police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators and made nine arrests Wednesday night as protests continued over an officer-involved fatal shooting earlier in the day.
Police Chief Sam Dotson said protesters threw bricks and bottles at officers, and when they disregarded repeated calls to disperse, officers first used inert gas, and then tear gas.
He also said a car was set on fire and some businesses burglarized.
Police will maintain an increased presence at the intersection of Walton and Page, the site of the protests, throughout the night, Dotson said.
During the day Wednesday, demonstrators played a cat-and-mouse game with police. They gathered at the intersection, dispersed, and then gathered again.
They were protesting the shooting death of an 18-year-old man by officers.
Dotson said two young men ran out of the back of a house when authorities arrived to carry out a search warrant.
"Officers in the rear alley ordered them to stop and to drop the gun. As they ran, one of the individuals turned and pointed the gun at the officers. There were two officers in the alley. Both officers fired," the chief told reporters.
The suspect who allegedly pointed a gun at officers was struck, and pronounced dead at the scene.
He was not identified by name.
The protests
Soon after, protesters gathered at the intersection of Walton and Page, blocking the main thoroughfare. Police made some arrests, "people moved to the sidewalk and peace was restored," Dotson said.
But when officers left, the protesters returned, marched on to Interstate 70, blocked it and returned to the intersection, he said.
Responding officers were struck with bricks and bottles, he added.
"At at that point, after the crowd ignored repeated requests and directions, inert smoke was used," Dotson said. "After that didn't have an effect, tear gas was used."
He also said a car was set on fire, and some business burglarized.
"There's a line that gets crossed from peacefully protesting, which we will support, to when laws are broken ," Dotson said. "Police officers have to do their job."
St. Louis Alderman Antonio French, who rose to fame during protests last year in Ferguson posted photos and videos of firefighters extinguishing house fires.
The tensions
Relations have been tense between police and some residents in St. Louis for some time now. The tension ratcheted up after Michael Brown, a black teenager, was shot and killed by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, a little more than a year ago. His death sparked protests and reignited a national conversation around race and policing.
The two officers involved in Wednesday's shooting have been placed on administrative leave, per police policy. An investigation is ongoing.
Dotson said the suspect's gun was reported stolen. The second suspect who ran from the house remains on the loose.
Other individuals who had been in the house were taken into custody without incident, the chief said.
Officers recovered a total of four guns, including one inside the home, two that were tossed over a fence as the suspects were running and the weapon that the suspect had, according to Dotson. Three of the four were stolen, he said.
CNN's Sam Stringer, Tony Marco and Braden Walker contributed to this report.
More racial unrest in St. Louis after police kill black suspect
By Carey Gillam and Daniel Bases
(Reuters) - St. Louis police fatally shot a black teenager on Wednesday who they say pointed a gun at them, and later faced angry crowds, reigniting racial tensions first sparked by the killing of an unarmed black teen in another Missouri town a year ago.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said the shooting took place when young black men ran out the back door of a house where 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 neighborhood," he said.
Police identified the slain suspect as Mansur Ball-Bey, 18. The second youth fled.
Crowds gathered at a nearby intersection shortly after the shooting and then again in the evening.
Dotson said at a late Wednesday press conference some protesters threw bricks and glass bottles at officers, who used shields to protect themselves and then tear gas to disperse the crowd. A car was set on fire and some local businesses had reported robbery attempts, he said.
Nine people were arrested on charges of impeding traffic and resisting arrest, police said.
St. Louis Alderman Antonio French posted on Twitter that a vacant house was burning.
Dotson told reporters Ball-Bey's gun was one of three stolen firearms recovered from the scene and said officers recovered crack cocaine.
View galleryPolice monitor the crowd as protesters gathered after …
Police monitor the crowd as protesters gathered after a shooting incident in St. Louis, Missouri Aug …
St. Louis police said the officers involved in the shooting were white, aged 33 and 29, each with about seven years on the force. They are on administrative leave.
A 93-year-old member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a black aviation unit from World War Two, was robbed and carjacked in the neighborhood on Sunday. A woman was also killed in the area this week.
The shooting came 10 days after St. Louis was flooded with protesters marking the anniversary of the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer on Aug. 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.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City, Missouri; Daniel Bases in New York; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento and Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Writing by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler, Lisa Shumaker and Paul Tait)
12:48 AM ET, Thu August 20, 2015
St. Louis police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators and made nine arrests Wednesday night as protests continued over an officer-involved fatal shooting earlier in the day.
Police Chief Sam Dotson said protesters threw bricks and bottles at officers, and when they disregarded repeated calls to disperse, officers first used inert gas, and then tear gas.
He also said a car was set on fire and some businesses burglarized.
Police will maintain an increased presence at the intersection of Walton and Page, the site of the protests, throughout the night, Dotson said.
During the day Wednesday, demonstrators played a cat-and-mouse game with police. They gathered at the intersection, dispersed, and then gathered again.
They were protesting the shooting death of an 18-year-old man by officers.
Dotson said two young men ran out of the back of a house when authorities arrived to carry out a search warrant.
"Officers in the rear alley ordered them to stop and to drop the gun. As they ran, one of the individuals turned and pointed the gun at the officers. There were two officers in the alley. Both officers fired," the chief told reporters.
The suspect who allegedly pointed a gun at officers was struck, and pronounced dead at the scene.
He was not identified by name.
The protests
Soon after, protesters gathered at the intersection of Walton and Page, blocking the main thoroughfare. Police made some arrests, "people moved to the sidewalk and peace was restored," Dotson said.
But when officers left, the protesters returned, marched on to Interstate 70, blocked it and returned to the intersection, he said.
Responding officers were struck with bricks and bottles, he added.
"At at that point, after the crowd ignored repeated requests and directions, inert smoke was used," Dotson said. "After that didn't have an effect, tear gas was used."
He also said a car was set on fire, and some business burglarized.
"There's a line that gets crossed from peacefully protesting, which we will support, to when laws are broken ," Dotson said. "Police officers have to do their job."
St. Louis Alderman Antonio French, who rose to fame during protests last year in Ferguson posted photos and videos of firefighters extinguishing house fires.
The tensions
Relations have been tense between police and some residents in St. Louis for some time now. The tension ratcheted up after Michael Brown, a black teenager, was shot and killed by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, a little more than a year ago. His death sparked protests and reignited a national conversation around race and policing.
The two officers involved in Wednesday's shooting have been placed on administrative leave, per police policy. An investigation is ongoing.
Dotson said the suspect's gun was reported stolen. The second suspect who ran from the house remains on the loose.
Other individuals who had been in the house were taken into custody without incident, the chief said.
Officers recovered a total of four guns, including one inside the home, two that were tossed over a fence as the suspects were running and the weapon that the suspect had, according to Dotson. Three of the four were stolen, he said.
CNN's Sam Stringer, Tony Marco and Braden Walker contributed to this report.
More racial unrest in St. Louis after police kill black suspect
By Carey Gillam and Daniel Bases
(Reuters) - St. Louis police fatally shot a black teenager on Wednesday who they say pointed a gun at them, and later faced angry crowds, reigniting racial tensions first sparked by the killing of an unarmed black teen in another Missouri town a year ago.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said the shooting took place when young black men ran out the back door of a house where 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 neighborhood," he said.
Police identified the slain suspect as Mansur Ball-Bey, 18. The second youth fled.
Crowds gathered at a nearby intersection shortly after the shooting and then again in the evening.
Dotson said at a late Wednesday press conference some protesters threw bricks and glass bottles at officers, who used shields to protect themselves and then tear gas to disperse the crowd. A car was set on fire and some local businesses had reported robbery attempts, he said.
Nine people were arrested on charges of impeding traffic and resisting arrest, police said.
St. Louis Alderman Antonio French posted on Twitter that a vacant house was burning.
Dotson told reporters Ball-Bey's gun was one of three stolen firearms recovered from the scene and said officers recovered crack cocaine.
View galleryPolice monitor the crowd as protesters gathered after …
Police monitor the crowd as protesters gathered after a shooting incident in St. Louis, Missouri Aug …
St. Louis police said the officers involved in the shooting were white, aged 33 and 29, each with about seven years on the force. They are on administrative leave.
A 93-year-old member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a black aviation unit from World War Two, was robbed and carjacked in the neighborhood on Sunday. A woman was also killed in the area this week.
The shooting came 10 days after St. Louis was flooded with protesters marking the anniversary of the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer on Aug. 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.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City, Missouri; Daniel Bases in New York; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento and Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Writing by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler, Lisa Shumaker and Paul Tait)
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