The News Minute| August 21, 2014| 3.00 pm IST
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department released cell phone footage that shows the fatal police shooting of Kajieme Powell. Powell, a 25-year-old black man was shot at 12 times and killed in St. Louis.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson had earlier said that the two police officers had opened fire on Powell as he came within three or four feet of them holding a knife.
The police had been tracking Powell on the basis of a complaint by a convenience store owner that Powell had stolen food from his shop.
But the footage, taken by a passerby on a mobile phone, shows the two police officers getting down from the car and shooting Powell in less than a minute. Powell can be heard saying, ‘shoot me’, but he doesn’t move too close to the policemen as was claimed by the police chief.
Powell’s shooting comes days after another young black man Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer in Ferguson.
Newsweek notes that 'the video shows that police told Powell to remove his hand from his pocket, which he did. Police said Powell held a knife in his hand, though it is unclear from the video if Powell actually brandished the knife at the officers'.