A man was shot and killed by St. Louis police officers on Thursday morning for resisting arrest for marijuana possession and attempting to remove a gun from his pocket, police said.
Police Chief John Hayden said the shooting happened around 12:50 a.m., when two unnamed police officers were patrolling the neighborhood. The area is known to have “heavy drug activity” and the officers saw a car parked with many people surrounding it, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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When they approached the car, the man was in the driver’s seat and the police saw that he had marijuana in his lap and that’s when they attempted to arrest him, according to Hayden.
Police say he was resisting arrest and officers allegedly attempted to use a stun gun or taser on him, but it did not work, according to the police chief. As a result, one officer shot him in the chest after he reportedly saw the man try to retrieve a gun from his pocket.
“So what I understand it was a struggle over the gun. I do not believe that he was able to get it out (of his pocket),” Hayden said.
The officers, one 24 and the other 28, attempted to do first-aid after the man was shot, but he was eventually taken to the hospital where he died.
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Some unanswered questions
While the incident was taking place, a 7-year-old girl was also in the car with the man. She ran out of the car toward her mother who was close by, Hayden said. She was unhurt, but it is not clear if she witnessed the shooting or if she was the man’s daughter.
The site reports that marijuana and a fully loaded revolver were recovered by police. The police department’s Force Investigative Unit is investigating.
The fatal police shooting is the sixth in St. Louis this year and the second within the city’s metro area within a week.
A police officer from Richmond Heights, Miss. shot and killed Terry Tillman on Saturday near the St. Louis Galleria mall. He was shot three to five times in his front torso, according to the Post-Dispatch.