Update: Police Shooting or Suicide? Teenager Shot Near Ferguson Has Died
UPDATE 2:
An autopsy performed on Amonderez P. Green shows that he sustained one gunshot wound to his chin, the St. Louis County police report in a press release to the Associated Press. Ballistics confirm the single round was fired from a .38-caliber revolver, the type of weapon police say Green produced when he was confronted by a Normandy officer the day he died from the fatal gunfire.
The officer involved in the shooting, a 12-year veteran of the department, is on paid administrative leave, pending investigation.
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UPDATE:
Amonderez P. Green, an 18-year-old who was shot in the face Wednesday afternoon in Normandy, Missouri, has died from the gunshot wound, KMOV reports. Police are seeking witnesses in the incident. There are still conflicting reports. Police are saying the boy shot himself, while witnesses say he was shot by a Normandy officer. The incident occurred in a town nearby Ferguson, Missouri, where the killing of Michael Brown made national headlines over a year ago.
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The national spotlight is once again trained on Ferguson, Missouri, as police say an 18-year-old shot himself in the face during a confrontation with officers this afternoon. But his family says it was a Ferguson police officer who fired the shot.
Local television station KTVI reports that officers arrived at 2 p.m. local time to help subdue the teen, who they described as suicidal. Normandy Police spokesperson Corporal Tameika Sanders said during a press conference that he was uncooperative and walked away from officers and his family. She then alleges that the teen pulled a gun from his waistband and shot at the officers. Sanders says another officer then tased the boy to no effect, and then officers shot back at him. She maintains that none of their bullets hit him and he ran away, causing the officers to lose sight of him. Then she says they heard a gunshot and officers found him on the ground, unresponsive. Sanders says officers found a gun on the ground.
But witnesses offer a different account of events, saying that Ferguson police were on the scene and that an officer actually shot the teen.
Shit just got waaaay real. #ferguson #anotherone
Witness Demetrius Young said he walked outside after he heard five shots. Then he says he saw an officer dressed in blue chasing the teen, heard two more shots, and then saw him lying on the ground.
Another witness gave The Huffington Post the following account:
Looking out her window, the witness said she saw the man—who was wearing a red, orange and yellow jacket—turn to face the officers, who were just six or seven feet away from him, when one of the cops shot him in the face.
"We heard approximately six gunshots ring out. I yelled and told my daughter to get down," she said.
"He was right at eye level as [the officer] shot him," the witness continued. "It was not a suicide. At all."
Another video shows officers running and features the voice of a woman screaming, "Don't shoot my baby," followed by a gunshot and what appears to be a male voice yelling, "Don't kill me. Oh, God!":
He shot himself but she pleading with them to not shoot himDONT BELIEVE THE LIES pic.twitter.com/eBNwFLWEbK
— Nique2X (@_prettyassnique) October 28, 2015For its part, the city Ferguson tweeted that their officers were not involved in the shooting.
.@stlcountypd are investigating a shooting involving a resident today. Despite rumors, Ferguson PD did not shoot a suspect.
— City of Ferguson (@FergusonScoop) October 28, 2015Then teen is reportedly at a local hospital, listed in critical condition.
(Photo: Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
