Police Say The 18-year-old Shot Himself, but Witnesses Disagree Near Ferguson

OhMars
OhMars Members Posts: 6,085 ✭✭✭✭✭
NORMANDY, MO (KTVI) - Police say a man shot himself after an incident near the intersection of Woodstock and Bermuda. Authorities say the officers encountered a suicidal person in Normandy, he fired shots at police and then ran. They say the suspect then shot himself.

According to Normandy Police Cpl. Tameika Sanders, officers responded at around 2 p.m. to the 5800 block of Bermuda for a report of a suicidal subject. The teen was being followed by family members who were seeking help from police and medical professionals.

Sanders said the 18-year-old was uncooperative when police and family members tried to talk to him. He continued walking to the 770 block of Ellington.

When police got out of their vehicles he took a gun from his waistband and began shooting at officers. Sanders said an officer used a taser on the teen. It was ineffective and officers returned fire. The suspect was not struck and fled through rear yards to the 7700 block of Paddington.

Officers momentarily lost track of the teen during the chase and then heard one additional gunshot, Sanders said. Police found the 18-year-old on the ground and unresponsive. Normandy police recovered a handgun lying next to the subject at the scene.

Officers immediately began applying first-aid. He was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition.

Neighborhood resident Demetrius Young, who lives on Paddington, said he heard five shots and walked outside his front door, saw an officer dressed in blue chasing the man, heard two more shots, and then saw a young man laying on the ground.

The City of Ferguson tweets, "@stlcountypd are investigating a shooting involving a resident today. Despite rumors, Ferguson PD did not shoot a suspect."

There appear to be conflicting reports as to whether the young man was shot by police or himself.

St. Louis County Police has evidence technicians on the scene. Ferguson police are also assisting with the investigation.

Comments

  • TayGettem
    TayGettem Members Posts: 6,859 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Suicide by cop
    Or
    Suicide by his own hand....either way he got his wish
    This time I actually believe ole boy offed himself
  • atribecalledgabi
    atribecalledgabi Members, Moderators Posts: 14,063 Regulator
    *sigh*

    I'm not in the mood..
  • D0wn
    D0wn Members Posts: 10,818 ✭✭✭✭✭
    When police got out of their vehicles he took a gun from his waistband and began shooting at officers. Sanders said an officer used a taser on the teen. It was ineffective and officers returned fire. The suspect was not struck and fled through rear yards to the 7700 block of Paddington.

    Black-Guy-Really-GIF.gif?gs=a
  • TayGettem
    TayGettem Members Posts: 6,859 ✭✭✭✭✭
    D0wn wrote: »
    When police got out of their vehicles he took a gun from his waistband and began shooting at officers. Sanders said an officer used a taser on the teen. It was ineffective and officers returned fire. The suspect was not struck and fled through rear yards to the 7700 block of Paddington.

    Black-Guy-Really-GIF.gif?gs=a

    Lol for once a cop did something out of the ordinary
  • TayGettem
    TayGettem Members Posts: 6,859 ✭✭✭✭✭
    D0wn wrote: »
    When police got out of their vehicles he took a gun from his waistband and began shooting at officers. Sanders said an officer used a taser on the teen. It was ineffective and officers returned fire. The suspect was not struck and fled through rear yards to the 7700 block of Paddington.

    Black-Guy-Really-GIF.gif?gs=a

    Lol for once a cop did something out of the ordinary
  • WiseKing
    WiseKing Members Posts: 110 ✭✭
    edited October 2015
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oUmhuHyOU0
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzSFELntN-U
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh2az10r09s
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoCi9O4prqI

    Cops claim the boy fired on them and then committed suicide. Multiple witnesses say they saw the cops shoot him point blank in the face and saw the body with his lip and jaw blown apart.

    Witnesses Dispute Police Account Of Teen Shot Near Ferguson

    Police say the 18-year-old shot himself, but witnesses disagree.


    NORMANDY, Missouri -- Authorities say an 18-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to his face in a St. Louis suburb after firing at officers Wednesday afternoon.
    It’s unclear how the man sustained the injury. The Normandy Police Department said in a statement that “it appears at this time that the male was not struck by law enforcement gunfire." However, people claiming to have witnessed the incident said otherwise.
    The department said that after police were called in to help find a "suicidal subject" whose family was attempting to calm him down, the man fired at the officers. When officers attempted to speak to the man, he allegedly removed a gun from his waistband and began firing at them. After deploying a Taser, which had no effect, the officers returned fire, the department said.
    The man fled, and another gunshot was heard out of the officers' sight, according to the statement. The officers then reportedly found him on the ground, unresponsive.



    A woman who says she witnessed the shooting, but asked to remain anonymous due to concerns about safety and the potential repercussions of speaking publicly, told HuffPost that she saw two officers on the scene with the teenager.
    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."


    Deron Smith told the St. Louis Dispatch that he saw the teenager running from the officers, but that he didn't appear to be holding a gun because he was using two hands to scale a fence. Police, however, said at a press conference Wednesday that a gun was recovered at the scene.
    A media advisory from the St. Louis Police Department, which said it is helping the Normandy Police Department investigate the incident, described it as an "officer-involved shooting."
    The man was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition, the Normandy Police Department's statement said.
    Jermell Simpson, the victim's father, was distraught.
    "I apologize for cussin', but that's the only damn son I got," he said in a video posted to Instagram. "When he started running, Ferguson [police] started shooting." (A photographer at the St. Louis American, which partners with HuffPost in the region, confirmed the man in the video is the father.)
    While the shooting took place in Normandy, several witnesses said some police on the scene were wearing Ferguson uniforms. A spokeswoman for the Normandy Police Department told St. Louis Public Radio that while Ferguson officers were present, it was a Normandy officer who fired at the man.
    "We even told Ferguson ... we had everything under control," Simpson says in the video.

    Ferguson is the town where Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, was shot dead by Officer Darren Wilson last year, sparking protests across the nation. Wilson did not face charges in Brown's k!lling.
    Normandy has a population of about 5,000 that is more than two-thirds black, though the town's police force is predominantly white.
  • Antlerz
    Antlerz Members Posts: 3,143 ✭✭✭✭✭
    TayGettem wrote: »
    D0wn wrote: »
    When police got out of their vehicles he took a gun from his waistband and began shooting at officers. Sanders said an officer used a taser on the teen. It was ineffective and officers returned fire. The suspect was not struck and fled through rear yards to the 7700 block of Paddington.

    Black-Guy-Really-GIF.gif?gs=a


    And police didn't shoot back????