St. Louis County police has released video they say shows that 18-year old black teen pulled a 9mm handgun on two police officers at a gas station in the suburb of Berkeley, Missouri. One of the officers fired his weapon several times and one shot struck and killed the teen, Antonio Martin.
The shooting happened about 5 miles northwest of Ferguson, where a white police officer fatally shot unarmed Michael Brown in August, sparking months of civil unrest.
At about 11:15 p.m. CT Tuesday while conducting a routine business check, a police officer saw two males at the side of a gas station, Sgt. Brian Schellman, a St. Louis County police spokesman, said in a statement.
The officer, whose name has not been released, approached them. Then one of the men pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officer, Schellman said.
"Fearing for his life, the Berkeley officer fired several shots, striking the subject, fatally wounding him," Schellman said. "The second subject fled the scene."
It's difficult to see what was in the video. It's not clear that anything happened other than Martin's arm was raised. The police are saying that Martin had priors for armed robbery and was "known" to the Berkley cops. Oh, and the cop's body camera was turned off.
Hmm.
What the video does show is several witnesses however: the person with Martin at the time of the shooting, and at least two people who pull up in a car to the gas station during the conversation Martin had with the two officers.
Somehow, I doubt there will be a trial. Antonio Martin will be just another "armed thug" who "got what he deserved". What really happened? Most likely we'll never know, right? Never trust a government employee unless he's got a grainy picture of a black man "pointing a gun" I guess.
Meanwhile in Houston, a grand jury refused to indict a cop there for shooting an unarmed black man.
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