Black youth killed by St. Louis police shot in back

Washington, Aug 22  A preliminary autopsy on the 18-year-old African American youth killed by St. Louis police showed the cause of death was a single shot to the back, the Missouri city's top police official said.

Mansur Ball-Bey's deadly encounter with police on Wednesday came less than two weeks after the one-year anniversary of the fatal police shooting of another young black youth, Michael Brown, in nearby Ferguson, Missouri.

The incident resulting in Ball-Bey's death began when two police officers tried to execute a search warrant at a home in a dangerous area of the city, St. Louis police chief Sam Dotson said.

Before the officers were able to enter the home, two black males fled through a back door.

When the officers ordered them to halt, one of the males pointed a gun at the cops and they responded by firing four shots, according to the official police account.