Police in ((the central U.S. state of)) Missouri say an officer shot and killed an armed black man early Wednesday morning.
A spokesman for the police department in Berkeley, a suburb of St. Louis, says the officer encountered two men during a routine check at a gas station. The spokesman says one of men pointed a gun at the officer, prompting the officer to open fire. The second man fled the scene.
Several dozen residents gathered at the scene of the shooting and confronted police. At least two smoking objects were thrown into the crowd, one of which exploded.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper has identified the dead man as 18-year-old Antonio Martin. A woman who identified herself as Martin's mother told reporters that her son's girlfriend gave her a different account of what happened.
Antonio Martin’s mother said:"She told me they went to the store, they were walking somewhere. They were walking and the police, I guess he started or something and police were shooting."