Police have released a surveillance video they claim shows 18-year-old Tyrone Harris pulling out a handgun moments before cops shot him.
Shots were fired on a police car during protests marking the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson on Sunday, and officers allege that Harris opened fire on the unmarked vehicle.
Harris was critically wounded by multiple shots fired by police during the incident. The teenager has since been charged with four counts of assault on law enforcement, five counts of armed criminal action, and one count of discharging or shooting a firearm at a motor vehicle.
Harris’ family and friends have denied he had a weapon, but police claimed that he was armed with a 9mm Sig Sauer pistol that had reportedly been stolen last year.
The CCTV footage was released by St Louis County Police and shows the scene of the shooting, at Solo Insurance Services on West Florissant Avenue, moments before it occurred.
According to Harris’ girlfriend, a group of men were trying to sell a stolen TV when rival groups opened fire on each other. The surveillance video footage shows dozens of people in the area scattering and taking cover as the shots rang out.
During the 13-second recording, the man police identified as Harris can be seen fleeing initially, then breaking away from the group and appearing to pull out a pistol from his waistband, at which point he runs out of the CCTV camera’s reach.
According to police, Harris then opened fire on an unmarked police car that was flashing its lights, bullets hitting the grill, hood and windshield. At that point, police say officers returned fire, hitting the teenager multiple times.
However there has yet to be any footage released of the purported confrontation and the surveillance video clip doesn’t actually show Harris firing the gun.
