A white off-duty St. Louis police officer shot a black teen becasue he allegedly thought the item the victim was carrying was a gun, according to reports.
The unnamed officer shot Vonderrit Myers, 18, after encountering the man and two others on the street, reports St. Louis Dispatch.
The rest of the story remains unclear because both sides are giving completely different versions of the events that happened leading up to Myers' death.
According to police, Myers was armed and fired at least three shots at the officer when he was being approached for a pedestrian check, the St. Louis Dispatch reports. Police also say they recovered a 9mm Ruger at the scene. The officer - who was in uniform - fired 17 times at the teen, which killed him.
"I think the department showed a tremendous amount of restraint," St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said at a news conference.
However, Myers' family doesn't believe the story.
"He was unarmed. He had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun. It's like Michael Brown all over again," Teyonna Myers, 23, who identified herself as Meyers' cousin tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Myers' uncle came forward with a similar story.
"My nephew was coming out of a store from purchasing a sandwich. Security was supposedly searching for someone else. They Tased him," Jackie Williams, 47, tells the St. Louis Dispatch. "I don't know how this happened, but they went off and shot him 16 times. That's outright murder."
A police spokesperson said the officer did not have a Taser.
Dotson also told the newspaper that Myers does not have a clean record.
He was arrested June 27 for an unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest. He was scheduled to go to court next month. Myers was jailed, but he was released on bail after posting a $1,000 cash bond. Myers was supposed to be under house arrest under the condition of bail and wear an electronic ankle monitor to track his location.
The court had no violations of his house arrest on file although he was not in his house at the time of the shooting.
The shooting occured in St. Louis, near suburb Ferguson, almost two months after the controversial Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson.
