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UPDATE: Thursday 9:00 AM EST

Family of the teenager fatally shot on Wednesday night by an off-duty police officer in St. Louis identified him as Vonderrit Myers Jr.

St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson also confirmed that the officer, who has not yet been identified, fired 17 times, killing Myers. Police maintain the teenager had a gun and fired at least three shots at the officer. The teenager attempted to fire more but his gun jammed, according to the chief.

It is unclear how many times the teenager was struck.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Dotson, who came to the scene and gave an update to reporters after midnight, said the officer had been in a car when he saw three males in the 4100 block of Shaw Boulevard at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. One of the males started to run away but stopped. The officer did a U-turn and then all three ran. The officer drove through streets following them, and then he got out and chased them on foot.

Assistant Police Chief Alfred Adkins said the teen the officer was chasing jumped from some bushes and struggled with the officer.

Dotson said a physical confrontation escalated into gunfire.

Witnesses and residents of the Shaw area, skeptical about the police report, took to the streets to protest the shooting, chanting “16 Times,” the amount of times witnesses originally thought the officer shot.

Witnesses also say Myers was holding a sandwich, not a weapon, when the officer gave chase.

Dotson said the incident would be reviewed by a task force created after Michael Brown’s death — the Force Investigative Unit — and findings would go to the District Attorney’s office.

We’ll keep you updated with the latest.

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Another teenager has been shot and killed by police in the St. Louis area.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that an off-duty officer fatally shot the victim after he opened fire on him Wednesday night.

Witnesses, however, identify the “man” as an 18-year-old who was armed with a sandwich that police mistook for a gun. Teyonna Myers of Florissant identified the victim as her cousin, Vonderrick Myers.

From the Post-Dispatch:

“He was unarmed,” Teyonna Myers said. “He had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun. It’s like Michael Brown all over again.”

[…]

Lavell Boyd, 47, lives in neighborhood and said he happened upon the scene as he was going to a store on Shaw to pick up a sandwich. Boyd said he heard 14 or 15 shots as he was in his car.

“When I pulled up I saw the cop standing over him (Myers) then he pointed the gun at everyone else telling everyone to get back while he was searching for another clip,” Boyd said.

Witnesses say the victim was also stunned by a Taser before the shooting.

Police said the uniformed officer was working a secondary job for a private security company when he encountered four pedestrians in the Shaw neighborhood and stopped to talk with them at about 7:30 p.m.

The four fled and the officer chased one, a man believed to be in his 20s, Assistant Chief Alfred Atkins said.

The man the officer was chasing jumped from some bushes and struggled with the officer, Atkins said. The man then pulled a gun and fired at the officer, Atkins said. The officer returned fire and fatally shot the man.

The officer, a 32-year-old man who does not want to be identified, was not injured in the shooting. A gun was said to be recovered at the scene. Police reports and witness reports, however, differ greatly.

The officer involved is said to be a six-year veteran of the police department. Darren Wilson, the officer who gunned down 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9 in Ferguson, was also a six-year veteran.

Story developing…

SOURCE:  STL Dispatch, Twitter  | PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter/HandsUpUnited

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