Officer Fatally Shoots Armed Man Near Ferguson, Mo., Police Say

A police officer in suburban St. Louis fatally shot a man who pointed a gun at him outside a gas station on Tuesday night, the authorities said.

The episode occurred less than five miles from Ferguson, Mo., where the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in August by a white officer prompted months of protests and started a national conversation about race and the use of force by the police.

The St. Louis County Police said in a statement that a police officer from Berkeley, Mo., was doing “a routine business check” at a Mobil gas station near the St. Louis airport around 11:15 p.m. on Tuesday when he approached two men he saw along the building’s side.

“The Berkeley police officer exited his vehicle and approached the subjects when one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer,” the county police department, which is leading the investigation, said in a statement. “Fearing for his life, the Berkeley officer fired several shots, striking the subject, fatally wounding him. The second subject fled the scene.”

The police said they had recovered a handgun at the scene.

Local news accounts and social media posts showed that a crowd of people had gathered outside the gasoline station after the shooting, and that a large group of police officers from several jurisdictions had responded.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/us/berkeley-missouri-police-shooting.html?_r=0

It's the wild west out there. I would say that if someone did pull a gun and point it at a cop, the cop would be justified in shooting. But my question is, what was the basis of "the routine business check?" Why was the cop approaching that car and those men?

Does no one remember Zoolander?

The fascists are winning.

Not only can cops kill black men with impunity. Not only can the killers cash in on their killing.

But, most tellingly, look at the expense and show of force deployed to crush any sign of solidarity and protest.

The fascists are winning. Or worse, they won.