A black teenager has been shot dead by a police officer at a gas station only a few miles from where Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri.
The victim, who has been named by his mother as Antonio Martin, 18, was killed at a Mobil gas station on North Hanley Road at about 1am.
Toni Martin, who was being comforted by friends at the scene said ‘that’s my baby,’ pointing towards the body lying under a yellow plastic sheet.
Police claimed that they only opened fire after Mr Martin drew a gun on officers who fired several shots in response. They said a firearm found at the scene belonged to the deceased.
A large group of approximately 100 protesters gathered at the scene of the shooting where police are believed to have used pepper spray on the crowd.
Mr Martin’s body was kept on the parking lot overnight as the investigation into the shooting began.
He was covered by a yellow body bag beside a police cruiser.
According to the St Louis Post Dispatch, Mrs Martin said her son was with his girlfriend at the time of the shooting.
Mrs Martin later complained that police wouldn’t let her ‘see her baby.’ She said that she only discovered her son’s death when his girlfriend came to pick her up.
She said: ‘The police was messing with him. He was trying to get up and run. When he tried to get up and ran they started shooting him.
‘He was a good young man. He was 18. He was trying to get his life back together. We were trying to get him back in school and stuff.’
Mrs Martin said the victim’s girlfriend said they were walking to the store when the police. Mrs Martin denied that her son was armed. ‘He had no gun,’ she added.
