An off-duty city officer shot and killed an 18-year-old Wednesday night in St. Louis, Mo., after the teen allegedly opened fire on the officer, police said. According to a witness in the report with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the officer then shot the teen 16 times.

The report says that the officer was not in uniform and that he was "working a secondary job for a private security company" when he stopped to engage with four pedestrians around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday night near Klemm Street and Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis. The four men fled and the officer attempted to chase them down.

Via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, according to Assistant Chief Alfred Adkins:

The man the officer was chasing jumped from some bushes and struggled with the officer, Adkins said. The man then pulled a gun and fired at the officer, Adkins said. The officer returned fire and fatally shot the man.

The officer was not injured, and a gun was recovered from the scene, police said.

The officer, 32, is a six-year veteran of the police department, Adkins said.

Relatives of the shooting victim, eighteen-year-old Vonderrick Myers Jr., claim that the victim was unarmed. A cousin of Myers claims that he was merely carrying a sandwich when he was gunned down. Protests have already begun in the Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis.

This story is developing and will be updated as more information comes in.

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