(Photo: David Carson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, via AP)
Angry protests have erupted for a second night in the Shaw neighborhood of this city after an off-duty white police officer shot and killed an African-American teenager who, police said, had fired three shots at him.
Following loud protests Wednesday night, demonstrations resumed Thursday evening when more than 100 chanting people marched and stopped traffic not far from the scene of the shooting.
Protesters held signs that said, “We will not forget,” and “Don’t Shoot.”
Police on Wednesday cordoned off a major street in the largely African-American area as demonstrators denounced police and smashed windows on several police cars.
Some in the crowd shouted “Hands up, don’t shoot,” referring to the fatal shooting in August of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, by a white police officer in the suburb of Ferguson, about 16 miles away.
Some social media postings urged residents of Ferguson to come to St. Louis to join the protest in the Shaw neighborhood, police said.
Unlike the Ferguson protests, demonstrators did not attack or damage businesses and the police did not try to confront the demonstrators, move them off the street or use riot gear.
Police Chief Sam Dotson, of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters that the police showed a “tremendous amount of restraint” despite the damage to police cars.
“We will do everything we can to support everybody’s right to protest and allow their voices to be heard as long as it doesn’t infringe on other people’s rights,” Dotson said.
Dotson did not identify the victim but said he “was no stranger to law enforcement.” He was identified by relatives as Vonderrit Myers Jr., 18.
Source: USA Today | Yamiche Alcindor and Doug Stanglin
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