At least nine people were arrested in St. Louis Wednesday as protests continued over an officer-related shooting of a black teenager.
Police Chief Sam Dotson said Mansur Ball-Bey was shot when he pointed a gun at officers, even after he was ordered to stop and drop his weapon, according to Fox's St. Louis associate Fox 2.
Upon learning of his death, protesters swarmed the streets while chanting insults and gesturing obscenely at officers. Some even surrounded individual officers, yelling at them.
In addition to the arrests, police responded when they heard reports of burglary and arson.
"Another youth down by the hands of police," Dex Dockett, 42, who lives nearby, told a reporter, according to The Wall Street Journal. "What could have been done different to de-escalate rather than escalate? They [police] come in with an us-against-them mentality. You've got to have the right kind of cops to engage in these types of neighborhoods."
The relationship between police and residents in St. Louis has been strained since the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown last year, reported Fox News. As a result, many locals, including Fred Price, 33, were skeptical about Dotson's account that the suspect pointed a gun at officers before being mortally wounded.
"They provoked the situation," he said. "Situations like this make us want to keep the police out of the neighborhood. They're shooting first, then asking questions."
