http://abcnews.go.com/US/man-killed-police-shooting-ferguson-missouri/story?id=27807891

A man was shot and killed by a police officer Tuesday in Berkeley, Missouri, authorities said -- sparking new unrest in a region already reeling following an August police shooting a few miles away in Ferguson.

The shooting happened at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday at a Mobil gas station, St. Louis County Chief of Police Jon Belmar said in a morning news conference.

Belmar said police visited the gas station when a report of a larceny came in. The victim, who is 18 years old, pointed a gun at the officer, sparking the deadly shooting, Belmar said.

"Bad choices were made," Belmar said. "This individual could have complied, he could have ran away, he could have dropped the gun."

The shooting sparked a new wave of unrest in the region, which has been wracked by anxiety following the August shooting of Michael Brown, 18, in nearby Ferguson. Following Tuesday’s shooting, a crowd of 200 to 300 people swarmed the gas station, with four people arrested and a police officer sustaining a leg injury, Belmar said.

St. Louis County Police released surveillance video today showing the moments before the shooting. The officer can be seen parking his vehicle, and a conversation ensues. The man’s arm appears to be raised -- but the video is inconclusive, captured from the side of the building a considerable distance away.

Belmar said the officer was assigned a body camera on Tuesday, but was not wearing it at the time of the shooting. Additionally, the vehicle's dashboard camera was likely not in use.

The officer -- a six-year veteran of the Berkeley police department, age 34 and white -- fired three rounds, with one round striking the victim, Belmar said.

Belmar declined to release the victim’s name or race, but said the man’s criminal record includes assault and armed robbery charges.

Toni Martin identified the victim as her son, Antonio Martin. Toni Martin told reporters at the scene that her son was with his girlfriend at the time of the shooting and refuted police claims that her son was carrying a gun.

He was trying to get his life back on track after getting expelled from school, she said.

“He was a good young man,” she said.

And you guessed it: People are getting all pissy about this now, especially on Facebook (look at the live feed)

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/antoniomartin?source=whfrt&position=2&trqid=6096422687797404122

I simply can't understand how so many people can be this dumb; a man pulls out a gun and points it at officer, just days after two cops were killed in NY. He took appropriate action and now the officer and the department are the bad guys. Oh no, this poor and "innocent angel" can't do anything bad, let's just blame it on police who already have a difficult job as it is

Soon enough it's going to get to the point where police won't even do their jobs because of this fear then the public will yell because cops are not on the streets. It's a loose-loose situation for law enforcement and it's getting pathetic

dp

Not to defend the kid in any way, shape, or form, but I'd like to know why the cop wasn't wearing his issued body cam.

The body camera not being there is suspicious....

Quote from: Ossku on December 24, 2014, 10:42:04 AM

Could have just wounded him.

God, I hate when people make this argument.

That's not how it works. Shooting to injure is highly unreliable. You shoot for the center of mass to disable the threat.

Thats a terribly american thing to say.
Im just saying >.>

Finnish police only shot 6 times this year.

Quote from: Ossku on December 24, 2014, 10:52:42 AM

Quote from: Mad Max on December 24, 2014, 10:51:37 AM

Quote from: Ossku on December 24, 2014, 10:42:04 AM

Could have just wounded him.

God, I hate when people make this argument.

That's not how it works. Shooting to injure is highly unreliable. You shoot for the center of mass to disable the threat.

Thats a terribly american thing to say.
Im just saying >.>

That's how firearm training works. Not only is shooting to injure/disarm VERY difficult, especially on a moving target or from a vehicle with a handgun, but even if you do shoot the person in the leg or arm, the threat isn't eliminated. You also increase the risk of injuring innocent bystanders.

Quote

Finnish police only shot 6 times this year.

..ok?

Well then. The training there must be lack luster.

Quote from: Mad Max on December 24, 2014, 10:54:44 AM

Quote from: Ossku on December 24, 2014, 10:52:42 AM

Quote from: Mad Max on December 24, 2014, 10:51:37 AM

Quote from: Ossku on December 24, 2014, 10:42:04 AM

Could have just wounded him.

God, I hate when people make this argument.

That's not how it works. Shooting to injure is highly unreliable. You shoot for the center of mass to disable the threat.

Thats a terribly american thing to say.
Im just saying >.>

That's how firearm training works. Not only is shooting to injure/disarm VERY difficult, especially on a moving target or from a vehicle with a handgun, but even if you do shoot the person in the leg or arm, the threat isn't eliminated. You also increase the risk of injuring innocent bystanders.

Quote

Finnish police only shot 6 times this year.

..ok?

Well then. The training there must be lack luster.

That's a standard, world-wide, basic firearm handling practice.

This is why police SHOULD wear the bodycams. We wouldn't have shitstorms if we had reliable evidence in these events that conclusively shows who was at fault.

Quote from: Ossku on December 24, 2014, 10:56:31 AM

Quote from: Mad Max on December 24, 2014, 10:54:44 AM

Quote from: Ossku on December 24, 2014, 10:52:42 AM

Quote from: Mad Max on December 24, 2014, 10:51:37 AM

Quote from: Ossku on December 24, 2014, 10:42:04 AM

Could have just wounded him.

God, I hate when people make this argument.

That's not how it works. Shooting to injure is highly unreliable. You shoot for the center of mass to disable the threat.

Thats a terribly american thing to say.
Im just saying >.>

That's how firearm training works. Not only is shooting to injure/disarm VERY difficult, especially on a moving target or from a vehicle with a handgun, but even if you do shoot the person in the leg or arm, the threat isn't eliminated. You also increase the risk of injuring innocent bystanders.

Quote

Finnish police only shot 6 times this year.

..ok?

Well then. The training there must be lack luster.

That's standard training. You shoot to kill. Nobody's a sharpshooter that can shoot a gun out of somebody's hand.

Finnish police only shot 6 times because they're not as trigger happy and there isn't as much crime. Criminals aren't armed to the teeth in Finland either.

I do realize the differences. And look, a not so defencive reply. 1+

This is why police SHOULD wear the bodycams. We wouldn't have shitstorms if we had reliable evidence in these events that conclusively shows who was at fault.

We have an entire video of Eric Garner and nothing will come of it.

The body camera not being there is suspicious....

Could have fell off, wasn't working right, was broken, and a few other possible explanations.

There's ststill security footage of the whole thing that has been released

Pointing a gun at a cop is not a particularly good idea

Quote from: D4C on December 24, 2014, 12:28:40 PM

This is why police SHOULD wear the bodycams. We wouldn't have shitstorms if we had reliable evidence in these events that conclusively shows who was at fault.

We have an entire video of Eric Garner and nothing will come of it.

I do believe, from what I've gathered, that the problem in the case was that the death wasn't directly due to the policeman's hold. I agree that the judgement definitely could have used work, but the case only got as far as it did because of the video.

Quote from: Kinder der Mörder on December 24, 2014, 02:42:37 PM

Quote from: Lemy the Lizerd on December 24, 2014, 10:46:09 AM

The body camera not being there is suspicious....

Could have fell off, wasn't working right, was broken, and a few other possible explanations.

There's ststill security footage of the whole thing that has been released

Cameras don't just...fall off. Have you seen all the GoPro videos of people doing crazy shit? Those stay on.
Wasn't working right? Surely the dept has extras they can swap out with a working one.
Broken? He was issued it less than a week ago. They don't break that fast.

I'm going by from what my city uses. They just clip on the shoulder strap and it seems rather easy to come off under the correct circumstances. He probably didn't have enough time to get it fixed or replaced. I'm not exactly sure why he didn't have it on, but am giving legit and reasonable reasons on a speculative manner