Less than five months after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, another Black teen has been shot and killed by police just two miles away in Berkeley. According to initial reports, 18-year old Antonio Martin was shot by an unnamed police officer after pointing a handgun at the officer in the parking lot of a local gas station.
The Associated Press reports that “a Berkeley police officer was conducting a routine business check at a gas station around 11:15 p.m. Tuesday when he saw two men and approached them,” according to county police spokesperson Sgt. Brian Schellman. “Schellman says one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer. The officer fired several shots, striking and fatally wounding the man. Schellman says that the second person fled and that the deceased man’s handgun has been recovered.”
A new Huffington Post report quotes the officer’s attorney Brian Millikan in a statement about the incident. “I don’t know why the guy didn’t get a shot off, whether his gun jammed or he couldn’t get the safety off,” the lawyer said, later claiming that the use of lethal force was justified and necessary.
Notably, the officer in question had been assigned a body camera but was apparently not wearing the device at the time of the shooting according to St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar. Additionally, the police “cruiser’s dashboard camera was not activated because the car’s emergency lights were not on,” according to Belmar.
Footage of the moments leading up to the shooting were captured on video and recently released.
A small group of protesters arrived on the scene shortly after Martin’s death.
A string of Hip Hop artists took to Twitter to respond to the death of the slain teen shortly after the incident.
Quickest way to get shot by Law Enforcement is to: Draw a gun on them, try to go for their gun, or not follow instructions & appear to reach for a weapon. Period. It DOESN’T MATTER if you are armed or what age, race, creed or religion you are. If this guy drew a weapon on law enforcement, it doesn’t matter if he was black or not. We have laws & law enforcement to uphold them, & judges to keep order with them, a judicial process. Not PRO Police, but PRO keeping the peace, NONE of us, as much ego or swag as we got, are ABOVE THE LAW!
I am supportive and against the cops that killed eric garner. The Mike Brown one is iffy, but this dude pulled a strap. That is common sense 101. Do not pull a strap on a cop unless you want to get fucking shot.
exactly my opinion. Eric Garner one i believe the cop should have got time. Mike Brown we don’t know what happen for sure whether he did try attacking the cop or not. This one there’s actual footage of him pulling a gun on the cop, if there wasn’t everyone would be saying the cop lied about antonio pulling the gun, he pulled a gun not saying he deserved to die but it’s his own fault he did
these rappers are a joke we all know none of them would be out in the street protesting. They are too busy hating on iggy and how privelaged white people are instead of doing something about it. Not to mention the idiot pointed a gun at the cop expecting cops to not retaliate. After the 2 cops got shot cops are more likely to kill
Other killings were fucked up but if you pull a gun on a cop you’ve got what’s coming to you – black, white, whatever.
Innocent until proven guilty, but it would seem as if the cop was well within his rights to do this. Kinda pissed that Kweli would jump on the bandwagon without doing his research first. Rappers supporting the “victim” here are just muddying the water here.
This kinda behavior is going to trigger a police state.
What’s the protest here? White people aren’t even allowed to pull guns on cops.
He pulled out a gun on a police officer…. smh That’s what would happen to anyone who would do that, white, black etc It sucks that people are dying but let’s be realistic. The two cops who were shot in New York, one looked Chinese (non white) and the other one didn’t look white either… why would the they have to die?
agreed the only officers that should have died were the ones involved in eric garner’s death and mike brown’s
MC EIHT – TAKE 2 WITH ME = CLASSIC SONG ABOUT THE NEW YORK POLICE MADE IN 1994 . CAPS GET PEELED ANOTHER CLASSIC MC EIHT SONG
COMPTONS MOST WANTED – ONE TIME GAFFLED EM UP = ANOTHER CLASSIC SONG ABOUT THE POLICE .. GEEAH STREIHT UP MENACE AND THICKER THAN WATER ARE MORE CLASSIC MC EIHT AND CMW SONGS . WAKE YO PUNK AZZ UP LIKE MC EIHT SAID GEEEEEAAAAH
THAT’S WHY WE COME STRAPPED
MC EIHT – TAKE 2 WITH ME = CLASSIC SONG ABOUT THE NEW YORK POLICE THT GOT KILLED .
COMPTONS MOST WANTED – ONE TIME GAFFLED EM UP = CLASSIC SONG ABOUT THE POLICE .
N.W.A – FUCK THE POLICE = CLASSIC SONG ABOUT THE POLICE BRUTALITY IN AMERICA .. WAKE YO PUNK AZZ UP GEEEAAAAAAH
I have a feeling there’s going to be a race war between black and whites…damn..history all over again
thats the thing..don’t ever fall for the fool card. I don’t understand it. its 2014..wtf. Im sorry, but thats just pure ignorance.
so niggas are fighting for their right to point illegal firearms at police officers? now i seen it all!
Ain’t gonna be no race war because everyone else in America doesn’t really care, and only sees this as an issue that effects poor blacks.
You guys have got to be kidding me. The kid pulled a gun on a cop and got killed, where is the injustice in this? Are you really that susceptible to sensationalism?
idk man thats a shitty video, you cant even judge it off that
theres nothing to respond to. if you pull a gun on a cop you better be prepared to die. its hilarious how these guys rap about being thugs and shooting cops but as soon as some thug pulls a gun on a cop they wanna cry about racism and police brutality! HAH
Yes. Raise a firearm at a police officer and you will end up either wounded or dead. No human or civil rights violation in this situation. Move along. Greetings from Canada!
wow you are perfectly reciting the talking points of uncle tom university. at a certain point you need to look at yourself and realize how far you’ve fallen as a person. load up j cole. no actually load up a classic like the chronic. and rmember what it feels like to be a nigga, and to pull that steel on a fuckin whiteboy pig and pull thet trigger. then you will realize how crazy and whiteweashed you sound right now
do these guys realize statistically police kill more whites than blacks every year?
Do you realize that statistically whites kill police more often than blacks every year?
-See how useless statistics are in these cases? … Good, now shut the fuck up!
If black guys started going out to the forest and picking fights with bears and dying would you guys still get mad and blame the bears too?
exactly! black people would burn the whole forest down
nice shot, well deserved, congrats!
im not a racist but these thugs deserved it.
Im guessing these rappers sent those tweets before seeing the video of the dude pulling the gun on the cop, otherwise they look really dumb and ignant. It aint fair on the real victims of police brutality to have celebreties speak out on shit like this when the nigga was clearly stupid enough to pull his strap on the cop.
Funny how everyone saying that police kill another black man. This man had and pulled a loaded gun on an officer. He Got what he was asking for and deserved it. . Police are here to protect us. If Eric garner wouldn’t have resisted arrest he would still be alive. Maybe they should drug test for welfare
dude stfu. yeah I agree in this case the guy was in the wrong for pulling the gun on the cop but not all police “are here to protect us”. Many abuse their power all the time and are worse than many criminals themselves.
social media brings out all the dummies, of course the guy got shot. I kind of thought it was common knowledge that when you pull a gun on another guy that has a gun (that has legal recourse to use it), u might get shot and you might die. Then the all the protests and narratives are addressing more of a symptom than the real problem. Cause- The for profit criminal justice and prison system. Symptom- minorities are disproportionately targeted.
yeah common knowledge if youve been brainwashed by anti gun propaganda. asshole. your album sucked and im glad tupac hated you. cuz ur gay and wack as fuck. sam need-a-ass-kicking
Hilarious how a gangsta rapper like GAME who raps about toting guns and shooting people is crying on social media about cops killing an armed teen, probably a gangsta rap fan that thought he was tough pointing his illegal firearm at the law. stand for something or fall for everything.
Sounds like SUICIDE BY COP to me. cant wait to hear how he was such an angel, a hardworking intelligent young man who never hurt a fly.
fuck off. you sound like a bitter woman. go call your ex boyfriend. he probably was a cop killer so now you’re jealous of real thug niggas.
@A, Real nigga? you think because you have the capability of shooting someone that makes you a real nigga? No, what it does mean is that you have no regard for human life. A real nigga, works hard, feeds his family, doesn’t get caught up in all this bullshit violence because he is smarter than that, that is a real nigga.
How many of these guys have songs about shooting the police, now that one of their fans tried it they gonna cry foul? Plus isnt freddie gibbs daddy a cop?
70% more white people die than black people from police violence…Imagine if 1% of the black people that are so concerned become a police officer and made a difference. But no they’d rather act innocent blame everyone else for their problems. I’m moving to Bali.
its also 88% more white people in america. blacks make up about 12 percent of the poulation. and are murdered at 10X the rate by police. and are 12x more likely than whites to be arrested for drugs and nonviolent crimes, but commit those crimes at the same rate as whites. just goes to show that yall still scared of us. terrified that we will do to YOU what you did to us…
To all of the sell outs defending this fucking pig: you are perfectly reciting the talking points of uncle tom university. at a certain point you need to look at yourself and realize how far you’ve fallen as a person. load up j cole. no actually load up a classic like the chronic. and rmember what it feels like to be a nigga, and to pull that steel on a fuckin whiteboy pig and pull thet trigger. then you will realize how crazy and whiteweashed you sound right now
. wow.
BET. my nigga. I aint no fuckin sell out like these sell out gays. I’m real as fuck. Last night I pulled up next to a cop at a traffic stop and pointed my gun at him and pretended to pull the trigger while smiling like “gotcha”. Pig didnt do shit cuz he knew was getting blasted by a soulja. Dont let them sell you the scare story that this isn’t america and you’re not allowed to actually use your firearm. Thug Life!!!!!
biggest sell out is snnooop. talking “no more guns”. this entire thing is just a gun control agenda. last time i checked youre not doing anything wrong by pointing a gun at a pig. i cant believe the comments im reading in this section by these anti gun agenda people. they wnat you to repeat a mantra. they make you fearful of using hte gun before they fucking confiscate it.
Wow this guy was a genius pulling his gun out and not even shooting the pig……..FAIL
“If black guys started going out to the forest and picking fights with bears and dying would you guys still get mad and blame the bears too?” …………..*dead* yall are fools for that
What I don’t understand is how the cop managed to shoot this guy three times when dude already had a gun pointed…this ain’t the movies man if someone’s got the drop on you you’re pretty screwed.
police training vs. wannabe thugs who don’t even know how to hold a gun
HE POINTED A FUCKING GUN AT THE COP WHAT IS THE PROBLEM HERE?
The problem is that he didn’t use the gun when he pointed it. That’s all I can see because it’s like you said, you point a gun and don’t expect no reaction you’re stupid. The people that are on here and arguing for the right to carry a illegal fire arm might be retarded. I love the whole argument of “Real Nigga’s will kill a white cop.” what the fuck is wrong with people. If I was a cop I’d shoot anyone that pulled a gun out, it’s me or him and I’d be damned if it was me. Black people have a right to protest any shooting by a member of the law if it’s unjustified but this was clearly self defense. What I love the most about protesters, Al Sharptons, Jesse Jacksons and others is that out here in Los Angeles (where I live) black’s kill each other like it’s Call of Duty and no one gives a fuck. No protests, no citizens standing up for what’s right or wrong and then they blame the cops for not doing anything. I’m sorry but people have it all fucked up. It’s either obey the law, get educated and mind your own or continue living a poor wannabe thug life where you’ll always blame others and want a hand out.
co-sign here. black people need to move to africa again. they are still can’t adapt to civilization life
Co sign! fed up these fucking ni66ers moaning and crying racism at every incident.F
8ck off back to where you belong. Damn Bluegums.
To “anon”, without intending to be a prick, I hope you realise the irony in your statement, you talk about black people like they’re lesser but you’ve failed to master what I assume is your language.
I am from Africa, Zimbabwe specifically, I like to believe we are considerably “civilised” in that we don’t ever find ourselves in cases where gun violence becomes necessary. That is horribly insulting. I don’t mean to imply that Americans are uncivilised but gun violence is far more prevalent in your country than any other (at least from where I’m standing) and that violence appears to be what your basis is for calling “blacks” uncivilised.
The black people in America are not Africans, they don’t have a home here. They are called African Americans but the primarily “African” aspect is their skin colour. They have their own culture and a substantial history filled with gross injustices and progressive victories, they belong in America just as much as any other race that calls it home.
To the matter at hand: it appears the young man had it coming, but the dumbest thing a police officer in America could do at the moment is shoot a black teenager because amidst all the shit that’s been going on lately, no one can really look at the situation objectively. This genuinely seems like a by the book matter.
Just another day in the hoods of america . like “COMPTONS MOST WANTED” SONG – ONE TIME GAFFLED EM UP ………..
So we are just going to ignore the fact that the 18 year old held up a handgun to the officer? Did any of the rappers who tweeted about this actually look at the video?
lets put ourselves in the officer’s shoes, are you going to let this kid shoot you? No, so this was justified clearly. Yet we will still have protesters and an uproar because he is black and he died. Even though he died because of his own stupidity.