MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti) - The off-duty police officer who killed 18-year-old African-American Vonderrick Myers Wednesday in St. Louis in the US state of Missouri fired 17 shots at him, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said Thursday in a briefing following the shooting.
"The officer fired his weapon 17 times," Dotson stated.
The police chief, however, said that he did not know how many of the 17 rounds of fire hit Myers.
Dotson also claimed that before the return fire was opened, Myers had taken three shots at the police officer.
"The suspect pointed the gun at the officer and fired at least three rounds at the police. We believe this to be true," the police chief stated, adding that the gun Myers was in possession of had been recovered from the scene of the incident.
When asked whether or not he considered it unusual that 17 shots should have been aimed at the 18-year-old, Dotson said that the threat to the police officer's life was still there since Myers kept on pulling the trigger of his gun even after it had jammed.
Meanwhile, in her conversation with St. Louis Today, Teyonna Myers, Vonderrick Myers' cousin, denied that he was armed.
Vonderrick Myers was killed Wednesday when an off-duty white police officer, who also works for a security company, tried to make a pedestrian check. Myers reportedly ran away, shooting at the officer and forcing return fire to be opened.
The death of Myers is the second such incident in St. Louis County since August, when police officer Darren Wilson, also white, shot dead Michael Brown, another 18-year-old African American.
Protests are underway in St. Louis over the shooting.
According to the official, no arrests have been made as the investigation has just started.
