Police in Ferguson have released a video that appears to show Tyrone Harris Jr. brandishing a gun moments before he was shot and wounded by police officers on Sunday night.
Harris, friend of Michael Brown, was part of protests in Ferguson to mark a year since the shooting of Brown. Police say the short clip from the security camera show Harris, 18, pulling a gun from his waistband, reports BBC.
Harris’ father has gone on record saying his son was unarmed and running away from the police when he was shot. He has not discussed the incident further since the release of the incriminating video.
The 13-second clip taken from the security camera of an insurance office on West Florissant Avenue shows Harris pulling the gun out and opening fire on plainclothes cops.
Harris is hospitalized and listed in critical condition. The teen has been charged with several felonies, including four counts of first-degree assault on a law enforcement office and five counts of armed criminal action.
Meanwhile in Ferguson, an armed militia group calling themselves the Oath Keepers was patrolling the area early this week, reports the New York Post. The Oath Keepers wore camouflage bulletproof vests and brandished rifles. The group centered themselves on West Florissant Avenue, which was the hub of the protests on the one year anniversary of Brown’s death.
The St. Louis Chief of Police, Jon Belmar, called the presence of the group “both unnecessary and inflammatory.”
Several Oath Keepers were seen to be freely interacting with the police late Monday and early Tuesday. Demonstrators jeered the group, who all appeared to be white.
Nabeehah Azeez, a protest organizer, says the presence of the armed men is “a contradiction in how things work.” She feels that if the Oath Keepers were black, it would be a different story. “If those were black mean walking around with rifles, they probably wouldn’t be living today,” she said.
The rules don’t apply to everyone. If those were black men walking around with rifles, they probably wouldn’t be living today.
