An eighteen-year-old man, identified by his mother as Antonio Martin, has been shot and killed by a police officer in Berkeley, Missouri just minutes from Ferguson.
Initial reports came out saying that the deceased had pointed a gun at the officer causing him to shoot him in “self-defense.”
Chief Belmar of the St. Louis County Police Department held a press conference where he stated that the cop pulled up to the Mobil Gas Station where the shooting took place, got out, some brief words were exchanged and Martin pulled out a gun. ?The officer was never injured.
A surveillance video has been released to the public by the St.Louis County Police which you can watch here:
After careful review, it does appear that the deceased had his hand up and out. However, no images or video have been released showing whether it was an actual gun in his hands or not. Belmar also said that the cop was assigned a body cam but something happened (Belmar’s wording was confusing) and it was not turned on. The dash cam also was not working.
Many on social media have speculated that the gun retrieved at the scene was planted. Some say there was no gun present?at the scene until later, way after Martin was killed. Others say it is obvious that a weapon was found and that Martin’s killing was justified. Mostly everyone agrees that Martin was pointing. Hopefully we will get a better look at what was actually in his hands. Some have ?theorized that Martin was motioning to his girlfriend in the moments before he was killed.
Chief Belmar said that there is one key female witness involved and that the second person who was with Martin fled the scene. In the video, we can see a black car pull up and a female get out. She immediately walks over towards Martin so it appears that she knew him. However, none of this has been?verified. As of right now, we do not know the identity of this female.
She?will be a key witness as she can tell us exactly what was said, what happened, etc. Remaining neutral is hard when we have seen so many police police cover-ups and mishandling of justice, but this video has made us all take at least a few steps back before crying foul.
Many activists still want to see more evidence, as do I. There are undoubtedly numerous surveillance videos available so we are wondering why this one was released when we can barely see what happened? Chief Belmar also said that an EMS unit was dispatched to the scene but it appears that no one at the actual scene can recall that happening and I have seen no pictures or videos of this. Those at the gas station say that Antonio was on the ground still alive but medical care was never provided to him. So while this situation seems unfortunate, people are still doubting the honesty of law enforcement’s accounts. ?In regards to the alleged gun, hopefully better images/videos will be released soon.
Regardless, the problem of people (mostly blacks) being killed by the police with impunity remains. I hope this killing doesn’t sway us nor the media away from this issue. Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Eric Garner, Kajieme Powell, ALL caught on video being (in my opinion) senselessly killed. And not just that, police stories of events have often been unveiled as lies when videos of the incidents are actually released. This must change. The culture of police deification and lack of accountability has to stop. Racial prejudices do cause a lot of these problems, but an?institution that seems above everyone else, also breeds more of these killings.
While more?clear evidence should be released in this case, a mother has still lost her child so close to Christmas day. Antonio’s mother was captured at the scene screaming?in agony. She is even heard yelling “kill me, kill me!” This is a real pain and too many have had to endure this type of grief. We need to always protect ourselves and not agitate cops, but they need to be respectful of us too. Peace has to be achieved by everyone but with the lack of indictments for those who act irrationally and with downright?malice, creates an unhealthy hierarchy where we feel like we aren’t valued as much.
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