Police shot and killed a suspect in St. Louis on Wednesday, after the suspect allegedly pointed a gun at officers.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said that two young men ran out of the back of a house when authorities arrived to execute a search warrant.
“Officers in the rear alley ordered them to stop and to drop the gun. As they ran, one of the individuals turned and pointed the gun at the officers. There were two officers in the alley. Both officers fired,” the chief told reporters.
The suspect who allegedly pointed a gun at officers was struck, and pronounced dead at the scene.
He was not identified by name, but Dotson said the suspect was an African-American man who appeared to be in his early 20s.
Late Wednesday, protesters gathered near where the man was shot, according to CNN affiliate KTVI. Three people were arrested for impeding traffic, a police spokeswoman said.
Michael Brown, a black teenager, was shot and killed by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, a little more than a year ago. His death sparked protests and reignited a national conversation around race and policing.
The two officers involved in Wednesday’s shooting have been placed on administrative leave, per police policy. An investigation is ongoing.
Dotson said the suspect’s gun was reported stolen. The second suspect who ran from the house remains on the loose.
Other individuals who had been in the house were taken into custody without incident, the chief said.
Officers recovered a total of four guns, including one inside the home, two that were tossed over a fence as the suspects were running and the weapon that the suspect had, according to Dotson. They recovered some crack cocaine.