Many are up in arms over the death of 25 year-old Cary Ball Jr. , an honor student who was shot 25 times by St. Louis police.

The police say Ball pointed a semi-automatic handgun at officers.

However, witnesses have told Ball’s family that he’d thrown his gun to the ground and began walking towards the officers with his arms raised when police opened fire.

From Think Progress:

Ball was an honor student with a 3.86 GPA, majoring in human services at Forest Park Community College, where he had been celebrated as an “emerging scholar.” According to family and friends, Ball was working to reform his life after being convicted of armed robbery when he was 17. His older brother, Carlos Ball, said Cary probably ran from the police because, as an ex-convict, it was illegal for him to possess a gun.

The two officers have been placed on administrative leave as homicide detectives investigate the shooting, but this is hardly the first time questions have been raised over the St. Louis Police Department’s conduct. In February, a city cop was accused of choking a man in a wheelchair, who was then arrested immediately after testifying at the officer’s disciplinary hearing. A video showing a cop beating and pepper-spraying a man went viral in 2011, revealing that the cop had stayed on the force despite multiple lawsuits alleging brutality.

Read more at Think Progress

 

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