St. Louis Metropolitan Police shot a 16-year-old boy more than a dozen times outside a north city gas station last fall.
First reported by the St. Louis Post Dispatch, a newly-released autopsy report revealed police shot Darryl Ross 18 times after the teen tried to run from police outside a Shell gas station in the Old North neighborhood on September 11.
Ross was shot 14 times in his torso, three times in his right arm and once in his left thigh.
Police said they were there that night watching several people with guns outside the gas station.
Ross’s mother previously told reporters that she and her son went to the gas station together, and Ross went inside to buy chicken fingers.
Police and the boy’s family have both previously agreed Ross was armed as he tried to run away from police. But other than that, their stories vary widely on what led up to Ross’s death.
Police said in an incident report at the time that when detectives pulled into the Shell’s parking lot wearing vests marked with POLICE, Ross quickly walked away to an alley to the side of the gas station.
Two unmarked police vehicles pulled up to Ross in the alley. He started to run after one officer got out of a vehicle and pointed a gun at Ross. The officer wore a black ballistic vest with POLICE marked on its front and back.
The detectives then chased Ross until he tripped over a curb. When he fell, police claimed Ross dropped a pistol, which he then grabbed for. That’s when officers shot him.
Video surveillance footage played for reporters last fall showed what led up to the altercation.
In the footage, Ross was seen dropping a black object and reaching for it as detectives approached him after his fall. The surveillance footage was blurry and contained no sound, so it was not clearly discernible whether Ross dropped a gun as police said.
Reporters were barred from recording the footage last fall and it has yet to be released.
Ross was pronounced dead at a hospital after the shooting. He lived in Jennings and was a student at Vashon High School.
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