"Antonio Martin was armed with a .9 mm handgun with a defaced serial number when officer shot him," St. Louis County Police chief said during the press conference. "The suspect had a pistol in his hand. We did what we had to do."
According to the police, the officer fired 3 rounds at Antonio Martin; one shot hit the suspect, one shot hit the car and one shot has so far not been located; whereas Martin discharged no shots.
The head of St. Louis Police Departament added that the police officer who shot and killed Antonio Martin was responding to larceny at time of shooting; he is a 6-year police veteran.
During the clashes following the Antonio Martin murder at least four people were arrested, with no use by the police of tear gas against protesters.
According to the Twitter reports cited by the media outlet, 18-year-old Antonio Martin was killed at a gas station in Berkeley, St. Louis. Martin was alive for 30 minutes after being shot, bystanders claimed. According to RT, witnesses were outraged by the incident, shouting "Innocent people!" and "What is that?"
Although initial Twitter reports claimed that Martin was unarmed at the time of the shooting, St. Louis County Police confirmed that the teen pointed a handgun at the officer. The police could not confirm the identity of the deceased.
On August 9, Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen was shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis. Wilson was pursuing Brown following a store robbery. In November, a grand jury chose not to indict Wilson. Both the shooting and the verdict led to nationwide unrest.
