St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — A 19-year-old passenger in a stolen car was fatally shot when he got out holding a gun and confronted two officers late Wednesday, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said.
Dotson said the red Chevrolet Monte Carlo the man was in had been reported stolen last month in south St. Louis. It was spotted about 9:45 p.m. by officers on a special patrol near Marcus and Cottage avenues in the Kingsway East neighborhood.
The car was being followed by officers when it hit a retaining wall near an alley. When two officers approached the car, Dotson said, the passenger got out holding a gun that had an extended magazine that could hold as many as 30 rounds.
The officers told the man to drop the gun, Dotson said. When he didn’t, the officers opened fire, the chief said.
The man was wounded and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Dotson described the passenger’s gun as an Intratec 9mm pistol.
Dotson said the driver of the car, also 19, cooperated with the officers and was taken into custody.
The chief said both of the officers involved had been with the department about eight years. One is 29 years old, the other is 35 years old. One is black and one is white.
Both of the men in the car were black.
Dotson did not release the name of the man who was killed but said he had a criminal history that included auto theft and burglary.
The chief said there were witnesses to the shooting, including a woman who lived near where it happened.
Terramus Manley, 40, of St. Louis, said he witnessed the shooting as he was visiting a friend who lives at an apartment nearby.
He said he saw officers following the Monte Carlo, but not at a high speed. When the car stopped, Manley said, police pulled up behind and he heard officers yell “freeze, freeze, freeze, don’t move.”
Manley said the passenger got out, took about two steps and looked as if he was about to run. That’s when the officers fired, he said.
Manley said he didn’t see a gun but that right after the shots ended he heard the officers say “get the gun.”
Other than a few residents standing near the cordoned-off shooting scene, the neighborhood southeast of Kingshighway and Natural Bridge Avenue was quiet just after the shooting.
About an hour later, a few protesters were at the scene chanting “No justice, no peace.”
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