Page 23 - KPA AUG 21, 2015

U.S. NEWS A5
Friday 21 August 2015

St. Louis police chief defends fatal shooting by officers

JIM SUHR ficers responded with tear scene. Thursday. “But don’t let so- ministers. The meeting was
JIM SALTER gas and arrested at least The handgun found in cial media and innuendo at a church about a block
Associated Press nine people on charges of the dead man’s posses- drive what you believe to from the shooting site.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. impeding traffic and resist- sion had one round in the be true. You have to let the The police chief and mayor
Louis police chief on Thurs- ing arrest. chamber and 13 more in facts speak.” said protesters should have
day unapologetically de- Dotson said that crowd- the magazine, Police Chief Mayor Francis Slay pledged their voices heard, but they
an “independent and differentiated between
transparent” investigation those who gather to pro-
of the shooting but stood test and others who create
behind police. mischief.
“The police were in this “We have to be mindful
neighborhood doing their of the fact that there are
job,” Slay said at a meet- criminals who were at the
ing with the St. Louis Clergy protest as cover for their
Coalition, a group of black activity,” Slay said.q

Police in riot gear stand guard as protesters gather, in St. Louis. A black 18-year-old fleeing from
officers serving a search warrant at a home in a crime-troubled section of St. Louis was fatally shot
Wednesday by police after he pointed a gun at them, the city’s police chief said.

(Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

fended the fatal shooting control tactics were justi- Sam Dotson said.
of a black 18-year-old who fied because officers were Some protesters ques-
was killed by two white offi- being hit with bottles and tioned the police claim that
cers in a confrontation that bricks and protesters re- the suspect was armed.
drew protesters and unrest fused to clear out of the Distrust of police accounts
back to the streets. roadway. has been common since
Protesters pledged to stand The scene unfolded less Brown’s death.
firm. Said the director of a than two weeks after vio- On the night of Brown’s an-
group called the Organiza- lence marred the anniver- niversary, 18-year-old Ty-
tion for Black Struggle: “We sary of the day Michael rone Harris Jr. was wounded
will not go away.” Brown was fatally wound- by plainclothes officers in
Mansur Ball-Bey, who po- ed by a white officer in Ferguson when he alleged-
lice said had a handgun, nearby Ferguson. His death ly first fired at them. His fa-
was shot as officers raided launched the national ther labeled that account
a home in a violence- Black Lives Matter move- “a bunch of lies” and in-
plagued part of north St. ment. sisted his son was unarmed.
Louis. Within an hour of The latest shooting hap- Later, police released sur-
Wednesday’s shooting, pened while officers were veillance video recorded
more than 100 people serving a search warrant. moments before the shoot-
converged on the scene, They encountered Ball-Bey ing that appeared to show
taunting officers and de- and another suspect run- the younger Harris pulling
crying the use of deadly ning from the home, police a handgun from his waist-
force. said. Ball-Bey turned and band and running in the di-
A vacant building and pointed a handgun at the rection of the officers.
at least one car were officers, who shot him, au- “I understand people’s
torched, police said. Of- thorities said. He died at the skepticism,” Dotson said