Mansuer Ball-Bey, the black teen whose death at the hands of police sparked riots in St. Louis earlier this week, was revealed by an autopsy to have died from a single gunshot wound in his back, police revealed Friday.
The results of the autopsy are preliminary however, and an investigation into the incident continues, police said in a statement, according to Reuters.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson stated the incident occurred when Ball-Bey refused to drop his weapon, even after he was allegedly ordered to do by police, as reported previously by HNGN.
Now, upon hearing the results, Dotson noted the location of the fatal wound neither proves nor disproves the account given by the two officers who were at the scene, according to CBS News.
"Just because he was shot in the back doesn't mean he was running away," Dotson told the newspaper. "It could be, and I'm not saying that it doesn't mean that. I just don't know yet."
Further giving credence to his stance is the fact investigators have allegedly found fingerprints and DNA on the gun police say Ball-Bey pointed at them. Unidentified sources also revealed that they allegedly heard the officers' shots, then saw Ball-Bey throw his weapon before running through an alleyway and collapsing, according to Raw Story.
Until more information becomes available, these findings will do little to assuage the anger of residents who already have a strong distrust of local authorities, especially since this event comes in the month of the one-year anniversary of the Aug. 9 killing of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson.
