Once again, people took to the streets of St. Louis to protest the killing of a black teenager by a white police officer. This time, the boy’s name was Vonderrit Meyers Jr.
From New York Magazine:
Angry and hurt protesters took to the streets in St. Louis on Wednesday night after a police officer shot and killed an 18-year-old in the Shaw neighborhood, near where 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot in August. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, police and protesters have wildly different versions of how the shooting occurred. Police say four pedestrians fled after they were stopped by an off-duty officer on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The officer chased one of the men, later identified as Vonderrick Myers Jr., and claims the teenager jumped out of some bushes, struggled with him, then pulled out a gun and shot at him. The officer says he returned fire, killing Myers.
NBC News is reporting that the officer fired his gun 17 times after at least three shots were fired at him, but eyewitnesses have a vastly different perspective and say the teen was holding a sandwhich, not a gun. The shooting came nearly two months to the day that Mike Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson. St. Louis Post-Dispatch staff photographer David Carson captured some of the scene on Twitter:
Fatal police officer involved shooting scene on 4100 block of Shaw in #stl, growing crowd upset pic.twitter.com/5eNkWj4Frq
— David Carson (@PDPJ) October 9, 2014
Crowd of more than 100 gathered on Shaw at scene of fatal police shooting, people murmuring, calmer than earlier pic.twitter.com/iKtdzTKMBm
— David Carson (@PDPJ) October 9, 2014
Crowd of more than 100 gathered on Shaw at scene of fatal police shooting, people murmuring, calmer than earlier pic.twitter.com/iKtdzTKMBm
— David Carson (@PDPJ) October 9, 2014
Grand between Russell and 44 is shut down, tact team truck just showed up order people out of street pic.twitter.com/cGKbWlFqmL
— David Carson (@PDPJ) October 9, 2014