“Between 200 and 300 protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, and conflicts broke out between officers and protesters, (Police Chief Jon) Belmar said. Four people were arrested for assaulting officers, and at least one officer was injured when he tried to get away from some sort of firework device set off on the parking lot, Belmar said. Protesters also threw some bricks at officers, Belmar said. Police used pepper spray on the crowd but did not use any tear gas, the chief said.” No, wasn’t the Ferguson melee in August. This one happened right next door in Berkeley last night. The difference: the above surveillance video – though difficult to make out at first – clearly shows Antonio Martin (standing in front of the officer’s cruiser) point a gun at the cop . . .
The video stops just before the officer draws and fires. Early reports don’t indicate whether or not the officer wore a body cam.
As the officer points his gun, he is backing away and loses his balance, Belmar said. As he fell, he dropped his flashlight and fired off at least three shots.
Martin (who was black) was declared dead by EMS on the scene.
(Belmar) also said the 9 mm gun found on the suspect had five rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber. He also said the gun’s serial number had been filed off.
Belmar declined to release (the suspect’s) name at the news conference but said he had a criminal record, with charges including three assaults, armed robbery, armed criminal action and multiple uses of weapons since he was 17.
So…a much clearer situation than the Michael Brown shooting in which the guy in the morgue clearly provoked an armed response from the (white) Berkeley officer…all on captured on video. Hard for the “social justice” types to argue with this one, right?
Antonio Martin’s extended family was in shock early Wednesday, as they waited for details to unfold about the fatal shooting.
“This doesn’t make any sense for them to kill my son line this,” Toni Martin-Green said early Wednesday from her home located near the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. “I am trying to be calm.”
Martin was the oldest of four children born to she and Jerome Green.
“He’s like any other kid who had dreams or hopes,” said Green. “We loved being around him. He’d push a smile out of you.”
St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCullough — who apparently did something to get on the wrong side of the universal Karmic ledger — has assigned one of his prosecutors to the case. Clarity of evidence or not, based on last night’s spontaneous reaction by hundreds of locals, you have to assume that if and when the un-named officer is cleared of any wrongdoing in this case, the reaction by “the community” won’t feature much restraint. Governor Nixon, please call your office.