A 14-year-old African American boy is in critical, but stable, condition after being shot by police on Sunday morning in St. Louis, Missouri.
According to CNN, two officers from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police came upon the boy—thus far unnamed—while investigating a carjacking. The officers, neither of whom wore body cameras, attempted to stop him, at which point he began to flee.
Chief Sam Dotson tells CNN that the officers then pursued the teenager and that, as they neared, he revealed a pistol and fired one shot at them.
The officers returned fire, claiming to “[fear] for their safety” and ultimately apprehended the boy after he had dropped his pistol and been shot multiple times.
Although unidentified, it has been confirmed that the teenager was not involved in the carjacking that brought the officers to the neighborhood. The officers, both white, have been placed on administrative leave in the meantime.
Just over two years ago, 19 year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb. In his interview with CNN, Dotson does not entertain how race may have impacted this shooting, but focuses instead on the dangers of someone so young having access to firearms.
