Officer kills armed 18-year-old in suburb near Ferguson

[webfact]

Officer kills armed 18-year-old in suburb near Ferguson
JIM SUHR, Associated Press
JIM SALTER, Associated Press

BERKELEY, Missouri (AP) — The mayor of a St. Louis suburb urged calm Wednesday after a white police officer killed a black 18-year-old who police said pointed a gun at him, reigniting tensions that have lingered since the death of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson.

A crowd of about 300 people gathered at the gas station where Antonio Martin was shot late Tuesday, throwing rocks and bricks in a scene reminiscent of the sometimes-violent protests that followed Brown's death.

But unlike the shooting of Brown, which was not captured on video, Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said surveillance footage appeared to show Martin pulling a gun on the unidentified 34-year-old officer who questioned him and another man about a theft at a convenience store. Brown was unarmed.

"You couldn't even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York," Hoskins said, referring to the chokehold death of Eric Garner, another black man killed by a white police officer.

He also noted that unlike in Ferguson, where a mostly white police force serves a mostly black community, more than half of the officers in his city of 9,000 are black, including top command staff.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar did not provide more details about the theft Martin was being asked about. He said Martin pulled a loaded 9mm handgun and the officer fired three shots while stumbling backward. One hit Martin, who didn't fire his own gun. He died at the scene.

"I don't know why the guy didn't get a shot off, whether his gun jammed or he couldn't get the safety off," said attorney Brian Millikan, who is representing the officer. He said that the officer was lucky to be alive and certain he had no choice but to use lethal force.

St. Louis County police and the city of Berkeley are investigating the shooting, which Belmar called a tragedy for both Martin's family and the officer, who has been on the force for six years.

"He will carry the weight of this for the rest of his life, certainly for the rest of his career," Belmar said of the officer. "There are no winners here."

The officer wasn't wearing his body camera, and his cruiser's dashboard camera was not activated because the car's emergency lights were not on, Belmar said.

Police released surveillance video clips from three different angles. The men can be seen leaving the store as a patrol car drives up. The officer gets out and speaks with them.

About 90 seconds later, one appears to raise his arm, though it's difficult to see what he's holding because they were several feet from the camera. Belmar said it was a 9mm handgun with one round in the chamber and five more in the magazine.

Police were searching Wednesday for the other man, who ran away.

Belmar said Martin had a criminal record that included three assault charges, plus charges of armed robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

Phone messages left for his parents were not returned. His mother, Toni Martin-Green, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Antonio was the oldest of four children.

"He's like any other kid who had dreams or hopes," she said. "We loved being around him. He'd push a smile out of you."

His was the third fatal shooting of a young black man by a white police officer in the St. Louis area since Brown was killed by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. Kajieme Powell, 25, was killed Aug. 19 after approaching St. Louis officers with a knife. Vonderrit Myers, 18, was fatally shot on Oct. 8 after allegedly shooting at a St. Louis officer.

Each killing has led to protests, as did a grand jury's decision last month not to charge Wilson in Brown's death. A crowd quickly gathered late Tuesday in Berkeley. The demonstration involving about 300 people turned violent.

More than 50 police officers responded to protests Tuesday. Belmar said officers used pepper spray but not tear gas. Four people were arrested on charges of assaulting officers.


-- (c) Associated Press 2014-12-25

[terryp]

sadly this is going to be the starter for 2015........so many good people in the US are being destroyed by the elites and their system

waving a gun at any police in the world is a stupid thing and there is really only one outcome....especially when the police have guns too

[khwaibah]

Video http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/24/justice/missouri-officer-involved-shooting/

[bassman]

Good riddance, armed thug with extensive record pulls a gun on a policeman protecting the community and is justifiably killed..

[SpokaneAl]

sadly this is going to be the starter for 2015........so many good people in the US are being destroyed by the elites and their system

waving a gun at any police in the world is a stupid thing and there is really only one outcome....especially when the police have guns too

As an American I am confused by your comments where you say, "so many good people in the US are being destroyed by the elites and their system."

Some fool waves a gun at the police and is shot dead - such is life.

[EyesWideOpen]

Here is some good advice if you are thinking of pulling a gun on a policeman, from the funniest man alive.....

Edited December 25, 2014 by EyesWideOpen

[ATF]

An 18 year old is not allowed a pistol I believe in every US State. Legal age is 21. Pull a gun on a cop you die. End of.

[JetsetBkk]

I wonder what the Reverend Al Sharpton has to say about this.

Maybe he'll go and have another chat with his mate Obama.

[Just1Voice]

Pull a gun on a cop and your chances of winning the Death by Hot Lead lottery just go way up!

[neverdie]

An 18 year old is not allowed a pistol I believe in every US State. Legal age is 21. Pull a gun on a cop you die. End of.

Pull a firearm on a cop...you deserve to meet your maker, irregardless of colour, creed, sex or political belief.

[mitsubishi]

sadly this is going to be the starter for 2015........so many good people in the US are being destroyed by the elites and their system

waving a gun at any police in the world is a stupid thing and there is really only one outcome....especially when the police have guns too

As an American I am confused by your comments where you say, "so many good people in the US are being destroyed by the elites and their system."

Some fool waves a gun at the police and is shot dead - such is life.

Because he is a cultural marxist like many others on here, he probably and thinks all guns can vanish into a machine in the sky if enough people ban them from private hands.

[mitsubishi]

An 18 year old is not allowed a pistol I believe in every US State. Legal age is 21. Pull a gun on a cop you die. End of.

Pull a firearm on a cop...you deserve to meet your maker, irregardless of colour, creed, sex or political belief.

Pull a firearm on a civilian...you deserve to meet your maker, irregardless of colour, creed, sex or political belief.

[mitsubishi]

An 18 year old is not allowed a pistol I believe in every US State. Legal age is 21. Pull a gun on a cop you die. End of.

Depends on what state you are in. In PA you can open-carry a pistol if over 18 but can't conceal carry until over 21 years of age (with a license).

This black punk was conceal carrying and DREW on the cop, but the cop made up for it with accuracy.

[thaibeachlovers]

sadly this is going to be the starter for 2015........so many good people in the US are being destroyed by the elites and their system

waving a gun at any police in the world is a stupid thing and there is really only one outcome....especially when the police have guns too

As an American I am confused by your comments where you say, "so many good people in the US are being destroyed by the elites and their system."

Some fool waves a gun at the police and is shot dead - such is life.

As I read it, the "elites" are the ones that want to let thugs run free in American communities causing havoc. Certainly they are the ones wobbling on about removing guns from the citizens.

[Tchooptip]

sadly this is going to be the starter for 2015........so many good people in the US are being destroyed by the elites and their system

waving a gun at any police in the world is a stupid thing and there is really only one outcome....especially when the police have guns too

As an American I am confused by your comments where you say, "so many good people in the US are being destroyed by the elites and their system."

Some fool waves a gun at the police and is shot dead - such is life.

As I read it, the "elites" are the ones that want to let thugs run free in American communities causing havoc. Certainly they are the ones wobbling on about removing guns from the citizens.

Last week another police officer was not so lucky (not fast enought?) no crowd demonstration by the way!

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/21/us/florida-officer-killed/index.html?iref=obnetwork

[lungbing]

An 18 year old is not allowed a pistol I believe in every US State. Legal age is 21. Pull a gun on a cop you die. End of.

Depends on what state you are in. In PA you can open-carry a pistol if over 18 but can't conceal carry until over 21 years of age (with a license).

This black punk was conceal carrying and DREW on the cop, but the cop made up for it with accuracy.

I wouldn't call one shot out of three hitting the punk accuracy, but I agree with your sentiment.

[Robby nz]

"He's like any other kid who had dreams or hopes," she said. "We loved being around him. He'd push a smile out of you."

As he pulled a gun on you and robbed you no doubt.

With his record at 18 the only hope for the future he could have had was a life behind bars.

Unfortunately these things have all got twisted into race, however a criminal is still a criminal whatever color.

[ggt]

The new protester slogan..."My gun jammed...I can not get the safety off...Don't shoot"...

[H1w4yR1da]

And can you believe blacks and some sad self-loathing whites are protesting this?

http://www.newsdocument.com/news/berkeley-shooting-protests-flare-after-armed-black-man-shot-dead-by-police-in-abc-online

Edited December 25, 2014 by H1w4yR1da

[NeverSure]

An 18 year old is not allowed a pistol I believe in every US State. Legal age is 21. Pull a gun on a cop you die. End of.

Depends on what state you are in. In PA you can open-carry a pistol if over 18 but can't conceal carry until over 21 years of age (with a license).

This black punk was conceal carrying and DREW on the cop, but the cop made up for it with accuracy.

I wouldn't call one shot out of three hitting the punk accuracy, but I agree with your sentiment.

I've said it before. Most cops I know aren't very good with their guns. Many grew up in a city and the first time they ever held a gun was at the police academy.

Like playing a musical instrument or learning a second language, it's best to start very young. It's really hard to get good with a handgun.

The good news is that many if not most of these gang banger punks have no training at all. They are also often in the big city and have never held a gun until they steal one or buy it illegally. Then they think they are hot stuff and suddenly tough. If they come up against someone who can really shoot, they are toast.

I'm glad the cop took out the trash. We don't need those punks around whether they have a gun, a knife, or just enough punks with them to seriously kick someone's butt.

[F430murci]

We were leaving dinner from an old Italian tradition restaurant in Memphis on Tuesday where my 18 year old wanted to go for her birthday. We were passed by about 4 or 5 speeding cop cars and my brother said many passed him as drive a different way back to his house.

Below was the incident that was going down. My brother is a former cop and now with the FBI in this racially charged crap hole of a city, a crap hole only blacks are the majority here . . .

Kiss my butttt if you think it is open day in black thugs. This guy should have been taken out, but was left to live another day by the police force so now us tax payers get to support this woman beater POS that wanted to kill some cops.

-------

Jermaine Morrison, 26, was arrested on April 20, 2014 for threatening to put a gun to his girlfriend's head and have a shoot out with police.

. . .

According to court documents uncovered by the WMC Action News 5 investigators, Morrison has been arrested six times for hitting and threatening several girlfriends with a gun, dating back to 2011.

His latest incident started Tuesday when police were called to a domestic violence incident near Kimball Avenue and Semmes Street.

Morrison was reportedly firing shots into the floor inside a house where his girlfriend's family lives. Three of them, ages 47, 31, and 10, were able to get out of the house and call police.

When officers arrived on the scene, the suspect began firing shots at the officers from a window. According to MPD, the officers did not fire back.

"Imagine the the amount of strength you would have to know someone is firing at you and not return fire," said Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong.

The remaining two family members, who were 15 and 17 years old, were rescued by police through a bedroom window.

http://m.wmctv.com/wmctv/db_330834/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=IJYRDIaN

Edited December 25, 2014 by F430murci

[ATF]

An 18 year old is not allowed a pistol I believe in every US State. Legal age is 21. Pull a gun on a cop you die. End of.

Depends on what state you are in. In PA you can open-carry a pistol if over 18 but can't conceal carry until over 21 years of age (with a license).

This black punk was conceal carrying and DREW on the cop, but the cop made up for it with accuracy.

I wouldn't call one shot out of three hitting the punk accuracy, but I agree with your sentiment.

I've said it before. Most cops I know aren't very good with their guns. Many grew up in a city and the first time they ever held a gun was at the police academy.

Like playing a musical instrument or learning a second language, it's best to start very young. It's really hard to get good with a handgun.

The good news is that many if not most of these gang banger punks have no training at all. They are also often in the big city and have never held a gun until they steal one or buy it illegally. Then they think they are hot stuff and suddenly tough. If they come up against someone who can really shoot, they are toast.

I'm glad the cop took out the trash. We don't need those punks around whether they have a gun, a knife, or just enough punks with them to seriously kick someone's butt.

Most cops and even the military are crap with handguns. Over 90% couldn't make a headshot at 10m. You have to put a least 10,000 rounds downrange before you can become accurate and that's a lot of money and the range doesn't shoot back.

Put that together with different types of ammo and very few handguns work properly straight out of the box, they have to be tuned which can cost more than the gun itself.

Many States were issued with modern polymer semi-automatic pistols such as Glocks which don't have safeties and the cops either ended up shooting themselves or looking for the safeties in stressful situations.

The gangbangers are even worse. They have no formal training and think they can shoot single handed which is very difficult without a lot of practice.

[neverdie]

Most cops and even the military are crap with handguns. Over 90% couldn't make a headshot at 10m. You have to put a least 10,000 rounds downrange before you can become accurate and that's a lot of money and the range doesn't shoot back.

Put that together with different types of ammo and very few handguns work properly straight out of the box, they have to be tuned which can cost more than the gun itself.

Many States were issued with modern polymer semi-automatic pistols such as Glocks which don't have safeties and the cops either ended up shooting themselves or looking for the safeties in stressful situations.

The gangbangers are even worse. They have no formal training and think they can shoot single handed which is very difficult without a lot of practice.

I can't comment on police forces everywhere.....nobody can. I can't comment about the states other than from the knowledge I've obtained through a friendship I forged with a NYPD officer I know.

I will say this though. I was trained primarily to shoot for the centre of bodymass. I believe most law enforcement train the same way. Human targets move around....shooting for the centre of body mass is the best way to go. That doesn't mean we weren't trained to shoot the head, this is always covered because of body armour.

If I couldn't shoot someone in the head at 10 metres, I wouldn't want to bring the street, period.

I agree wholeheartedly about 10,000 rounds, if not more. A human must practice things thousands of times before it becomes instinct.....I fired far far more rounds than 10,000 & I trained constantly. As a side note, I trained with a training round which was notorious for red eyes....primers loaded back to front and even damaged casings which cause jams. Dozens and dozens of them......love it. Practise those drills, tap rack assess. Training with paint rounds in blackened wear houses wearing full body armour, headgear, 40 degree heat, dirt grime and so forth...being able to operate under extreme duress and make the right decisions.

Instinctive shooting and aimed shots.....one handed, double and supported shots....hours and hours of it.

Most important was weapons retention.....rolling around with big guys trying to wrestle your firearm from you......it's life and death stuff.

Most police shootings occurr at very close range.....no need to aim the weapon, it's all instinctive shots.

The casual firearm enthusiast that spends his day shooting paper targets intent on tight groupings or maybe bunnies and other small game on the weekend will never understand those issues and their importance.

The army guys, straight from the battlefields of Iraq might not appreciate what occurs when firing a round in a downtown shopping mall in hanks ills lined with mums dads and children in the same way I wouldn't understand engaging multiple targets in deserted down town Fallujah.

I use to love training with my firearms.....and not all Poluce are the same....I've seen crap operators, but I've seen outstanding ones too.

My glock was outstanding, I took it straight from the box, no tuning, maybe I got lucky, maybe I was cockeyed and its inaccuracy corrected that, I dunno, couldn't comment. To the best of my knowledge, street police in Australia have NEVER used firearms with a safety switch, I'm not talking about the specialist weapons of the spg....I'm talking of the standard side arm.....safeties arnt needed in police work....you only put ur finger on the trigger after u identify the target and are ready to execute.....woops I mean fire.

Anyway, I'm sure the target shooters will keep patting themselves on the back and so they should, some of them are very good at shooting paper targets

Ps: I thought gangbangers and common crooks were exempt from the laws of physics if the held their weapons horizontally ?

[cookee68]

And look at the fools protesting, or should I say attacking people, this is nothing else but a colour thing, no matter how you want to wrap it up in Christmas paper, most fools love a gang fight, eh I mean protest

[cookee68]

We were leaving dinner from an old Italian tradition restaurant in Memphis on Tuesday where my 18 year old wanted to go for her birthday. We were passed by about 4 or 5 speeding cop cars and my brother said many passed him as drive a different way back to his house.

Below was the incident that was going down. My brother is a former cop and now with the FBI in this racially charged crap hole of a city, a crap hole only blacks are the majority here . . .

Kiss my butttt if you think it is open day in black thugs. This guy should have been taken out, but was left to live another day by the police force so now us tax payers get to support this woman beater POS that wanted to kill some cops.

-------

Jermaine Morrison, 26, was arrested on April 20, 2014 for threatening to put a gun to his girlfriend's head and have a shoot out with police.

. . .

According to court documents uncovered by the WMC Action News 5 investigators, Morrison has been arrested six times for hitting and threatening several girlfriends with a gun, dating back to 2011.

His latest incident started Tuesday when police were called to a domestic violence incident near Kimball Avenue and Semmes Street.

Morrison was reportedly firing shots into the floor inside a house where his girlfriend's family lives. Three of them, ages 47, 31, and 10, were able to get out of the house and call police.

When officers arrived on the scene, the suspect began firing shots at the officers from a window. According to MPD, the officers did not fire back.

"Imagine the the amount of strength you would have to know someone is firing at you and not return fire," said Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong.

The remaining two family members, who were 15 and 17 years old, were rescued by police through a bedroom window.

http://m.wmctv.com/wmctv/db_330834/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=IJYRDIaN

I would have shot the bastard, end of story