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ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis county police officer fatally shot a masked carjacking suspect who pointed a gun at him, authorities said Tuesday.
Aaron Ballard, 19, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting, with a loaded gun next to him, St. Louis city police said. Three other men who had been in the stolen car with Ballard ran away and were still being sought.
Police had been searching for a gold 2003 Mercedes Benz taken by masked men in an armed robbery around 2 a.m. Monday in the suburb of Affton. Just before 10:30 p.m. Monday, an officer spotted the car in another suburb, Jennings, and began a chase that ended up in the city, where the Mercedes crashed.
St. Louis police said four men got out of the car. The driver and two passengers ran away, but St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the suspect, wearing a mask and gloves, pointed a gun at the officer.
The officer fired shots at Ballard, who then tried to run before collapsing nearby, St. Louis police said.
The 28-year-old officer was not injured. The officer is white and a three-year veteran of the department. His name was not released. Ballard was black, as are the three men who ran away.
St. Louis County police said that the officer was not wearing a body camera, and county police cars are not equipped with dashboard cameras. The officer who fired the shot was the only officer on the scene at the time.
Meanwhile, two city police officers were hurt when their SUV was involved in a crash while headed to the pursuit. Two people in the car that collided with the police vehicle also were hurt. Belmar said all four suffered minor injuries.
The shooting was the third involving a county police officer this month. On Oct. 6, officer Blake Snyder was fatally shot while responding to a disturbance call. On Thursday, an officer was shot in the arm while trying to arrest a suspect for a previous assault.
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