Police chief: Black man shot and killed by white St. Louis officer
ST. LOUIS --A black male was shot and killed Tuesday by a white officer on the city's north side during a chase involving a car that had been stolen at gunpoint the previous night, St. Louis police said, according to CBS affiliate KMOV.
Two officers were following the suspected stolen car with three people inside Tuesday morning, Police Chief Sam Dotson said. The car then pulled into an alley, with two passengers getting out and the driver speeding away.
One of the passengers pointed a gun at police, Dotson said, and was shot by one of the officers. The victim, whose name and age was not released, was declared dead at the scene, where a weapon was recovered.
The second passenger was taken into custody after being subdued by a stun gun, while the driver hadn't been found by Tuesday afternoon. The car was abandoned about a mile away, Dotson said.
Dotson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the unidentified officer, who was placed on leave, fired five to seven shots. He didn't indicate whether the suspect fired his gun. Neither officer was injured.
"Nobody wants to get to the bottom of this more than I do," Dotson said.
The fatal shooting happened the same day that a federal judge approved a U.S. Justice Department settlement with the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson following the fatal shooting of black 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white officer in August 2014.
The sweeping settlement overhauls a police force and municipal court system that came under nationwide scrutiny after the shooting, which helped propel the national Black Lives Matter movement.
On Monday, the St. Louis Police Department gave city prosecutors its investigation of a 2015 fatal police shooting of an 18-year-old. The prosecutors will review it to determine if criminal charges are warranted. A family attorney has questioned the police account that Mansur Ball-Bey pointed a stolen gun at officers.
Tuesday's shooting was at least the third this year by a St. Louis police officer.
In January, a 52-year-old man who had served prison time for previous robberies was killed by an officer after a reported fast-food restaurant robbery. In late March, a 22-year-old man was shot and critically wounded by an officer he confronted with a knife after being ticketed during a traffic stop.