Mayor Hoskins: ‘we’re different from Ferguson’

Just five miles from the site where Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, another young, black teen was shot and killed by police late Tuesday night by a white police officer.

Demonstrations and angry clashes between police and protesters erupted overnight as the community reacted to the shooting. The St. Louis County Police confirmed the death, saying the teen had pulled a gun on an officer from the city of Berkeley and that “fearing for his life” he had “fired several shots.” According to police, a handgun was recovered at the scene.

St. Louis County Police released a statement Wednesday identifying the deceased as Antonio Martin, 18.

Berkeley is just two miles from Ferguson, making this the third police shooting death of a young black man in the area since Aug. 9, when unarmed teen Michael Brown was shot and killed by a local officer. A second teen, who was armed, was shot and killed in the Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis by an off-duty police officer in October. The latest shooting comes just as many have called for a halt to nationwide anti-police brutality protests in the wake of the deaths of two New York City police officers who were killed by a man allegedly outraged by the deaths of Brown and others.

Mayor Theodore Hoskins spoke Wednesday morning to emphasize that this was not another Ferguson.

“We’re different than the city of Ferguson,” he said in a press conference, noting that the mayor, city manager, and police chief are all black. ”At this point, it appears – let me say this strongly – it appears that the person, this deceased, was pointing a gun which was found at the scene.”

“Everybody don’t die the same,” he continued. “Some people die because the police initiated it, some people die because they initiated it. At this point our review indicates that the police did not initiate this like Ferguson.”

He noted that the city of Berkeley would be doing an independent investigation, as would the St. Louis County Police. Police reported early Wednesday that the officer had fired three shots and that one had struck the victim; the gun recovered was a 9 mm and had five shots in the chamber. At this time, they don’t believe the suspect fired his weapon. The officer was responding to a robbery call when he approached two young people, one of whom was the victim. The second fled the site.

More From MSNBC: