Officer in Missouri shot, killed man who pulled gun: Police

BERKELEY — A man who pulled a gun and pointed it at a police officer has been killed in the St Louis suburb of Berkeley, police said today (Dec 24).

A Berkeley police officer was conducting a routine business check at a gas station around 11.15pm yesterday when he saw two men and approached them, St Louis County police spokesman Sgt Brian Schellman said in a statement.

One of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer, Mr Schellman said. The officer fired several shots, striking and fatally wounding the man.

The second man fled, and the deceased man’s handgun has been recovered, according to Mr Schellman.

The Berkeley Police Department requested that the St Louis County Police Department handle the investigation, according to the statement. The deceased man’s identity was not immediately released, and no further details about the incident were immediately available.

The St Louis Post Dispatch reported that a group of about 60 people gathered at the scene.

Berkeley is a few miles from Ferguson, where a white police officer, Mr Darren Wilson, fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black, in August.

The St Louis region saw unrest after Brown’s killing, and protests were renewed last month when a grand jury chose not to indict Mr Wilson. AP