A black teen, Antonio Martin, was fatally shot by police on Tuesday, Dec. 23, just two miles outside Ferguson, Missouri.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Martin, 18, pointed a gun at an officer at a Mobil gas station in Berkeley, Missouri, late Tuesday night before the officer opened fire. The alleged victim’s mother, Toni Martin, confirmed to the dispatch that her son had been fatally shot by police.
The Associated Press reports:
County police spokesman Sgt. Brian Schellman says a Berkeley police officer was conducting a routine business check at a gas station around 11:15 p.m. Tuesday when he saw two men and approached them.
Schellman says one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer. The officer fired several shots, striking and fatally wounding the man. Schellman says that the second person fled and that the deceased man’s handgun has been recovered.
In an interesting twist, the police officer had been assigned a body camera but wasn’t wearing it at the time of the incident. His police vehicle was also fitted with a camera but it is only activated when the car’s red lights are flashing and they were not on at that time. Sound suspicious?!
The St. Louis County Police Department released a statement via Facebook saying…
“At this time, we cannot confirm the identity of the deceased subject. The investigation is on-going and further details will be provided as the investigation proceeds.” As for the security footage captured at the gas station, it has been described as “really pretty good.”
This of course backfired, as the hashtag #AntonioMartin is now trending nationwide. A total of 60 to 100 people gathered around the gas station where the shooting took place, taping and tweeting the aftermath of the tragic shooting.
Live streams at the scene show residents verbally clashing with authorities. A woman identified as Martin’s mother, can even be heard sobbing “That’s my baby!”
For images of the scene, taken by bystanders, hit the flip.
