DHAKA: Police in the US state of Missouri have fatally shot a black teenager, who they say pointed a gun at them, and later faced angry crowds, reigniting racial tensions in the country.

Sam Dotson, the police chief of the city of St Louis, said the shooting took place on Wednesday when young black men ran out of the back door of a house where two officers were carrying out a search warrant, Al Jazeera publishes this report on Thursday.

Officers ordered the pair to stop in an alley behind the house. One suspect pointed a gun at officers who then fired four times, killing him, Dotson said.

‘Detectives were looking for guns, looking for violent felons, looking for people that have been committing crimes in the neighborhood,’ he said.

Police identified the slain suspect as Mansur Ball-Bey, 18. The second teenager fled.

Both officers, who are white, were unharmed, police said, adding that they were on administrative leave.

Following the incident, crowds gathered at a nearby intersection shortly after the shooting and then again in the evening. Three people were arrested for blocking traffic, police said.

NBC television affiliate KSDK reported that some in the crowd threw rocks at officers, who responded with what appeared to be tear gas.

BDST: 1320 HRS, AUG 20, 2015
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