Massive protest hit US after Soldier shoot teem 7 times
Massive protest hit US after Soldier shoot teem 7 times
(CNN) -- Vonderrit Deondre Myers, a teenager who died in a police shooting, was struck by seven or eight bullets, St. Louis city Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Graham said Thursday night.
(CNN) -- Vonderrit Deondre Myers, a teenager who died in a police shooting, was struck by seven or eight bullets, St. Louis city Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Graham said Thursday night.
"All but one gunshot wound were to the lower extremities," Graham said. "The one fatal wound was to the head."
Police Chief Sam Dotson
said the killing happened Wednesday evening when a suspect shot a pistol
three times at the St. Louis officer, who was off-duty but wearing his
uniform while moonlighting for a security company. The officer fired his
pistol 17 times, police said.
The shooting sparked
angry street protests, with residents pointing out similarities to the
August killing of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson.
Myers and Brown were both 18 and black and killed by white police officers. One big difference: Police said Brown was not armed.
"It`s a clear case of
this young man being gunned down by an insensitive white officer who was
off-duty," Akbar Muhammad, part of a coalition seeking justice in the
Brown shooting, told CNN affiliate KTVI. "He chased them off a corner."
Were 17 shots excessive?
St. Louis Police Officers' Association lawyer Neil Bruntrager discussed
that Thursday night on "Erin Burnett OutFront."
"When he uses deadly force he uses deadly force until the threat is gone," Bruntrager said.
Bruntrager said without
video of the incident or unbiased witnesses, the police and the public
must rely on physical evidence. A 9mm pistol allegedly fired by Myers
was found at the scene, police said.
But Van Jones, a civil rights activist and CNN contributor, said nobody can trust the police after the Brown killing.
"You're seeing a wholesale breakdown of trust," he said on "OutFront."
Thursday night, St.
Louis residents held a candlelight vigil for Myers at a sandwich shop
where he bought food shortly before being shot. They sang hymns, prayed
and released balloons into the air.
Speakers urged the people to remain peaceful.
"The chief did an
outstanding job yesterday, keeping the tension down between the police
officers, as well the protesters," Missouri state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed
of St. Louis said to KTVI. "It is an unfortunate situation. My heart
goes out to the family, but again from what I am hearing it was a direct
correlation to racial profiling, racial profiling went deadly."
The Myers shooting occurred just ahead of a "Weekend of Resistance" in St. Louis, where activists will push for movement in the investigation into the Brown case.
Tensions are already high in the community, and it's uncertain how the latest shooting will affect its mood.
Source: CNN
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