More trouble in the St. Louis/Ferguson area. Yahoo/AP

Protesters near the scene in St. Louis. Yahoo/AP

Another officer involved shooting has happened in the St. Louis area, not far from where Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson. Yahoo/AP. The police officer, who was in uniform but not on duty, was moonlighting as a security guard when he saw three black men, who ran from him. The officer followed them in a vehicle and then on foot, eventually getting into a physical confrontation. One of the men pulled out a gun and fired three shots at the officer before his gun jammed. The officer returned fire and shot 17 rounds back at the 18 year old, killing him. After the shooting a large group of protesters immediately showed up and started yelling "hands up don't shoot" in reference to the Michael Brown shooting. A few police cars were damaged in the protest but there were no reports of looting or rioting. 

My Comment:

What on earth are they protesting here? If shooting back at someone who is shooting at you isn't self defense then nothing is! It sounds like the officer was very lucky that the shooters gun jammed, or he could have died instead. And no, 17 rounds isn't excessive, that just means that the officer mag dumped.  Here is a video of a guy doing exactly that in about 5 seconds. 

Youtube Geoff Koop

This just seems like another case of people rushing in to protest when they have no idea whatsoever what happened. It is so dumb because in this case especially it seems like a cut and dry example of self defense. Unless there is video or audio recording of the officer doing something really stupid, like an execution after the guy was down, there is no reason to believe that anything unjustified happened here. 

And even though I haven't been covering the Ferguson story lately, I am still following it. I'm expecting the following things to happen:

1. Darren Wilson won't be charged with anything

2. There will be riots because of that

3. Professional agitators will continue to flock to St. Louis and Ferguson to co-opt the movement. They don't want to make it about Darren Wilson, Michael Brown or the other officers and people gunned down, they want to make it about their own pet projects.