On Wednesday the St. Louis police department arrested at least nine and used tear gas to clear a street amid a new wave of protests about the new criminal killed by police. Police Chief Sam Dotson said at a press conference that the protesters, who had blocked an intersection and refused to move, began throwing glass bottles and bricks at the police on the scene. When inert gas did not work to disperse the crowd, police turned to tear gas. Those arrested will face charges of impeding the flow of traffic and resisting arrest.

In addition to dealing with protesters, police spent the night responding to reports of burglaries in a neighborhood already “plagued by violence,” Dotson said. The fire department was also called after a car was set ablaze.

The police chief also added that he would release video showing the officers giving multiple orders to clear the street before being forced to resort to the use of gas. It is a sad time in our nation when the police feel they must defend themselves after doing their jobs – which is what they were doing both at these protests and on Wednesday afternoon when they attempted to serve a legal search warrant on the home Ball-Bey was inside.

Dotson said that two police officers were serving the warrant in a crime-troubled section of the city’s north side when they encountered the two suspects, one of which was the 18-year old Ball-Bey. The two were attempting to flee the home when Ball-Bey, a black man, drew a handgun and pointed it at the police, who shot him. He died at the scene. Both white officers were unharmed, but you know, no one cares in the #BlackLivesMatter crowd that one criminal is out of their neighborhood and the men who protect them are safe to protect them another day.

Officers reported that four handguns, including the one pointed at police by Ball-Bey, and crack cocaine were recovered at or near the home, and that a man and woman who were inside were also arrested. The home, which yielded illegal guns during a raid last year, was believed to be a harbor for suspects in other crimes. Dotson did not mention which crimes, but noted that a murder occurred Monday on the same street and a nearby market was just home to a shooting.

The other suspect is still at-large, but will the community that seems to value criminality more than police protection aid law enforcement in locating him?

Of course, the support of this thuggish criminal is nauseating to say the least. People screaming their support of this kid, who pointed his gun at the police, saying that it was the police who escalated the situation, are refusing to accept that this young man had a choice to make, and he chose the wrong path. No one forced him to point a gun at police officers.

“Another youth down by the hands of police,” Dex Dockett, 42, who lives nearby, told a reporter. “What could have been done different to de-escalate rather than escalate? They (police) come in with an us-against-them mentality. You’ve got to have the right kind of cops to engage in these types of neighborhoods.”

Well, considering the Black Community has taken a firmly supportive position behind these criminals, I think the police are completely justified in being overly cautious – not that shooting someone who is pointing a gun at you is overly cautious. But, I’ll play their stupid word game. What type of cop is the “right type” to engage in these neighborhoods? Should our men and women in blue stand by and allow themselves to be shot or beaten by criminals?

Fred Price, another neighborhood resident, was skeptical of the police’s story, accusing the police of lying about the suspect pointing a gun at them.

“They provoked the situation,” Price, 33, said. “Situations like this make us want to keep the police out of the neighborhood. They’re shooting first, then asking questions.”

Well, trust me, Buddy, I think the police officers would rather not be in a neighborhood or community that is so incredibly distrustful of them or downright aggressive towards their presence, but it is their job to protect the populace from criminal behavior. If we didn’t have criminals like Ball-Bey, in ownership of illegal weapons and either using or attempting to sell illegal drugs, we wouldn’t need police, but since the communities these officers are in are overrun by crime, their presence is necessary.

It’s finally become clear with the outrage over this shooting that the #BlackLivesMatter crowd really just wants the African American population in America not to be punished for any misbehavior. They are accusing the police of escalating the situation, but refusing to ask the question, “What if Mansur Ball-Bey hadn’t tried to evade arrest and pulled a gun on police?” No one is asking that question because if they do, it puts fault where it should lie: at the feet of the dead man. Had Ball-Bey just allowed himself to be arrested for crimes he was guilty of, he would still be alive.