Here We Go Again

9 arrested in St. Louis protest over shooting

Police made nine arrests and used tear gas to clear a street when about 150 people gathered Wednesday evening to protest a shooting earlier in the day that left a black suspect dead.

Many of the roughly 150 people who gathered at the scene hurled obscene gestures and expletives at investigators and questioned the police use of deadly force. Some chanted "Black Lives Matter"...

... the shooting occurred Wednesday morning when members of the Tactical Unit and Special Operations were executing a search warrant at a house in the north part of the city.

Two men armed with guns fled out of the back door as officers were about to enter the house. Police say 18-year-old Mansur Ball-Bey was armed with a firearm with an extended magazine. The other suspect, who police described as being in his mid- to late-teens, was armed with two guns and was in possession of crack cocaine.

As the suspects fled, officers in an alley near the house ordered them to stop and drop their weapons. Police say Ball-Bey then turned and pointed a gun at the officers.

Dotson said two officers shot and struck Ball-Bey. Dotson said one officer fired once and the other fired three shots.

Four guns, including the gun dropped by Ball-Bey, and crack cocaine were recovered from the house...

Police obtained the search warrant because they believed the home harbored suspects in other crimes, Dotson said.

... a killing happened on the same street Monday and a nearby market just was riddled by bullets.

It's reached the point where facts and circumstances don't matter. A police raid, based on a legitimate warrant, taking place in a violence plagued neighborhood, flushes out a thug with a gun and drugs. He threatens officers with a firearm, they protect themselves, and minutes later the streets are filled with 'protesters.'

We had dinner last night with friends who had returned that day from St. Louis. They both were born and raised there, lived and worked there for many years before their careers moved them elsewhere. They still have family and friends there, and return to visit annually.

Their observations: the area has changed. Downtown St. Louis, which used to be a vibrant area where people of all races mingled without problems, has become a shell of its former self. White flight has taken many middle and upper middle class residents to new suburbs. The old easy going atmosphere is gone. The new tension is palpable.

Why? Because 'black lives matter', to the exclusion of all else.

Please don't misunderstand me. There is no doubt that some police shootings are questionable, and deserve to be investigated. But there is also no doubt that some are justified. Yet to the BLM crowd, all such incidents are cases of white cops gunning down innocent black youths. In their minds, there is evidently no set of circumstances in which LEOs are justified in using deadly force.

Sorry, but I just don't buy that.