Police release video of Berkeley shooting
Police in the US have released security video from the petrol station where a white police officer shot dead a black teenager in St Louis on Tuesday night.
It comes as authorities try and head-off anger in Missouri over the shooting, which occurred in Berkeley, near Ferguson, where unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white officer in August.
Brown’s death sparked nationwide protests which reignited earlier this month when a grand jury failed to indict the officer involved in the shooting.
In the Berkeley incident, police said 18-year-old Antonio Martin leveled a gun at an officer responding to a theft complaint, leaving him with no alternative but to shoot.
A 300-strong crowd gathered after the shooting, with demonstrators lobbing bricks and three explosive devices, which officials said were likely fireworks.
Police responded with pepper spray.
A small group was seen looting a shop close to the scene of the shooting. At least one officer was injured and is in hospital after the clashes.
St Louis Country Police have since released several videos of the shooting, including one showing the police officer running backwards and falling to the ground then running for cover after firing the shots.
The video also shows shoppers running for the safety of their cars as the shots ring out.
Officials in Berkeley said the officer in Tuesday's shooting acted in self-defense.
"You couldn't even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York," Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said.
"Everybody don't die the same. Some people die because the policeman initiated it some people die because they initiated it, and at this point, our review indicates that the police did not initiate this."
He told reporters most city officials and police officers in Berkeley, a town of 9000 which is 85 percent black, are African American.
"Our police officers are more sensitive and it's because of the black and white relationship, it's because they interact, so you get a better understanding, that's why I believe we are different than the city of Ferguson,” he said.
Mayor Hoskins said both St Louis County and local Berkeley police were conducting independent investigations of the incident.
Police are still hunting for the second man who fled the scene.
A lawyer for the officer, who has not been named, said his client was shaken by the incident.
"On the one hand, you know you have followed proper procedures and policies," lawyer Brian Millikan told a local newspaper.
"On the other hand, these guys are human beings and on the day before Christmas, he had to take somebody's life.”
Morning news break – December 26
