18-year-old black teenager Antonio Martin was reportedly shot and killed by police officers at a Mobil gas station in Berkeley – just miles away from the national epicenter of racial tension in Ferguson, Missouri.
While some are speculating that the youth was unarmed when he was shot, drawing immediate parallels to the shooting of Michael Brown, that has not been confirmed. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports:
A teenager was fatally shot late Tuesday at a Mobil gas station on North Hanley Road here.
The victim was identified as Antonio Martin, 18, by his mother, Toni Martin.
Toni Martin and others at the scene said Antonio was shot by a police officer.
Providing a picture of the anguish felt at the scene of the crime is a video of Martin’s mother crying out:
Adding fuel to the fire of controversy is the way that Antonio Martin was apparently left by the police without prompt medical treatment, recalling both the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
The body remained on the parking lot just in front of the Mobil gas station at 6800 North Hanley Road at about 1 a.m. Berkeley police cars were on either side.
Crime scene tape ringed the gas station, which appeared to have security cameras that are trained on the parking lot. The scene is southeast of the intersection of Interstates 170 and 270.
Twitter exploded after the news broke, leading to the top nationally trending hashtag #AntonioMartin:
I can’t begin to imagine what it feels like for a mother to see her son like this. Heartbroken & livid. RIP #AntonioMartin
— meems (@_meeems) December 24, 2014
Some commenters urged caution until all the facts are known:
The Ferguson story was marred by misinformation and conjecture from the very beginning due to the misreporting of the national media.
This is a breaking news story. Any relevant updates will be added as they are forthcoming.
UPDATE:
There clearly appears to be chaos at the scene of the shooting:
UPDATE 2:
Raw video [no audio] captures dangerous explosion at gas station. It is currently unknown if there were serious injuries.
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