Editorial

Cop Shoots Teen In St. Louis

By Daily Dot | Thursday, October 9, 2014

A police officer shot and killed a teenager on Wednesday night in St. Louis, Mo.

Eight and a half weeks before, and about 12 miles away, another officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed another youth, unarmed teenager Michael Brown, sparking still-ongoing protests.

Police have yet to release the name of the young man’s shot Wednesday, but relatives have identified him as 18-year-old VonDerrit Myers, Jr.

Sources agree that a teenage black male fled an attempted “pedestrian check” late on Oct. 8, and an officer gave chase. What happened next is disputed: the official report is that the teenager fired at least three times at the officer with a firearm following a “physical altercation,” prompting the policeman fire 17 shots—though it’s unclear how many of these shots hit the teenager.

Others, however, claim otherwise: “He was unarmed,” relative Teyonna Myers told the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “He had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun. It’s Michael Brown all over again.” St. Louis police say they have ballistic evidence and have recovered a firearm from the scene.

Law enforcement have not named the teenager, but other reports have identified him as Vonderrit Myers Jr. He was “no stranger to law enforcement,” St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said.

The shooting sparked immediate street protests of up to 300 people, the Post Dispatch reports, staging sit-ins on the street and chants including “black lives matter” and “hands up don’t shoot.”

Tensions have been consistently high in the area ever since Wilson shot Brown in Ferguson, Mo., a St. Louis suburb. Wilson has not been charged.

  • Golden Heart

    what is wrong with these cops! omg

  • Brenda

    I’m just speechless

  • That’s Krayy

    love and prayers to those in Ferguson, it’s been a battle

  • mysteryman

    wow 17 shots?…that’s way overdoing it

    • kRobbie

      cops shoot to kill

      • Skeeter

        that’s messed up

  • -TRIPPIN-

    that ain’t right why is it coming down to this type of stuff??