Protests erupt in St. Louis after white policeman shoots black teenager

A white off-duty policeman shot and killed a black teenager in St. Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday, officers said, triggering a night of protests just miles from the suburb of Ferguson, where a white police officer shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 9, triggering weeks of racially charged protests that at times turned violent.

Police said the 18-year-old, who has yet to be named, was armed and fired three shots while the officer chased him. Police officers recovered a gun at the scene.

The teen killed was one of three people who fled after being approached by the officer, a six-year veteran of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department who was working for a private security company, Police Chief Sam Dotson said.

The officer, who was wearing his city police uniform, fired 17 shots at the teenager, police added.

A crowd of around 200 people gathered at the scene in the south St. Louis neighborhood of Shaw, 11 miles south of Ferguson. Many of the protesters marched to a major thoroughfare, partially blocking traffic and chanting "Whose streets? Our streets?" as a police helicopter hovered overhead.

Teyonna Myers, 23, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that she was the cousin of the suspect and that he was unarmed when he was killed.

"He had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun. It's like Michael Brown all over again," she told the paper. Police have not named the teenager.

At one point, about a dozen people punched and kicked two occupied police vehicles, one that was marked and another that was unmarked. Demonstrators then broke the back window of a marked police vehicle.

None of the protesters, some of whom were from Ferguson, had been arrested by the early hours of Thursday, police chief Dotson told a news conference.

"I think the department showed a tremendous amount of restraint," Dotson said.

The officer, who was not hurt, has been placed on administrative leave and an investigation is under way, police said.

St. Louis' historic Shaw district has a relatively low crime rate — as of September, there had been no homicides this year and just five cases of aggravated assault, according to police crime statistics.

In Ferguson, a grand jury is expected to decide next month whether to bring criminal charges against police officer Darren Wilson, who shot dead Brown in August.

Brown's death triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests, prompting the governor at one point to summon the National Guard.

Missouri authorities are drawing up contingency plans and seeking intelligence from other police departments around the country, fearing that fresh riots could erupt if a grand jury does not indict Wilson.

Al Jazeera and wire services