His family and friends claimed that Vonderrit D. Myers Jr. was unarmed and holding a sandwich when an off duty St. Louis police officer shot and killed him. The officer claimed that he was fired upon by the teen. The usual outrage and demonstrations followed. But now the evidence is in. Christine Byers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports:

Gunshot residue tests and ballistics evidence indicate that Vonderrit D. Myers Jr. fired a gun at a police officer before being fatally shot, police and union officials said Tuesday.

The police department issued a statement saying that forensic scientists from the Missouri Highway Patrol crime lab found gunshot residue on Myers’ hands, shirt and inside the waistband and pockets of his jeans. Police said that although gunshot residue can be present on anyone near a shooting, the results show levels consistent with Myers being the shooter, because the police officer was standing too far away.

The residue also was found on Myers’ right hand only, police said.

Ballistics evidence also revealed three bullets that hit the ground where the officer was trying to take cover matched Myers’ gun. A round that pierced a car behind the officer was too badly damaged to be able to match it to Myers’ gun; however, it did not match the type of bullets the officer fired, police said.

Myers was shot to death by an off-duty police officer who was on patrol for a private residents’ association in the Shaw neighborhood Oct. 8. The officer saw Myers and two other young men run as soon as they saw him. The officer, who was driving a marked private security car and wearing his city police uniform, chased the young men.

Myers fired at least three shots at the officer before the officer returned fire, killing Myers.

Following the shooting, an image, purportedly of Myers, appeared on social media, showing him posing with guns, including one identical to the firearm used to fire the three bullets recovered at the scene.

Sundance of Conservative Treehouse comments:

When is a sandwich not a sandwich?  When it’s a stolen 9mm Smith and Wesson in the hands of a convicted felon wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet and shooting at the police !