A Police Officer in Berkley MO. Shot and killed a 18 year old teen Tuesday night as he was responding to a local convenience store for a report of a theft. The incident resulted in a large crowd gathering at the scene with two Police Officers being injured and several arrests after protesters clashed with Police.

In a statement made by Sgt. Brian Schellman, a spokesman with the St. Louis County Police Department, the Police Officer involved shooting occurred at 11:15 p.m. at the Mobil gas station in the 6800 block of N. Hanley Road. The Officer was responding to a report of a theft.

According to Officer Schellman, the police officer arrived at scene and positioned his vehicle at the side of the stores entrance. The officer was approaching the store to make contact with the clerk when he encountered two males. The officer then ordered the two males to the front of his patrol car and asked them for identification.

The first teen complied with the police officers requests. The second teen then started to walk away with his back toward the officer. “The officer then began to verbally engage the teen who then turned toward the officer brandishing a hand gun, he then pointed the weapon toward the officer.” Schellman said.

According to Schellman the officer then began to back pedal as he pulled his weapon and fired at the armed teen. The St. Louis County Police released a short clip of the gas stations surveillance video of the incident. Schellman did state the Berkley Police cruisers are equipped with dash cameras but it is unknown at this time if it was activated or working.

In a press conference, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters, “the officer is believed to have fired three shots, one struck the armed teen, another struck the front tire on the officer’s vehicle, and the third bullet has not yet been accounted for. The suspect is not believed to have fired his weapon.”

According to Chief Belmar, Investigators recovered a 9mm handgun at the scene. “The weapon was “defaced,” meaning the serial number was unreadable.” A common practice with stolen fire arms is to remove the serial numbers to make it harder for law enforcement to identify and trace them.

“The 18-year-old does have criminal record, including previous arrests for armed robbery, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon, local police departments were familiar with the suspect due to multiple previous contacts with law enforcement,” Belmar said.

Belmar also said, the officer involved in the shooting, a six-year veteran of the Berkeley police department, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation takes place.

Shortly after the shooting a crowd of approximately 200 to 300 gathered at the scene. The crowd reportedly was protesting in a relatively calm manner. Around 2 AM the tone of the crowd changed dramatically as the crowd began to throw plastic bottles at police, this quickly escalated to bricks and even small explosive type of fireworks.

Two police officers were injured in the incident, one officer suffered injuries to his lower leg while trying to get away from the fireworks,  A St. Ann police officer also was also injured when he was hit by a rock or brick, the officer was taken to a local hospital according to Belmar.