A white police officer shot a black teenager to death at a gas station in the city next door to Ferguson

A white police officer shot a black teenager to death at a gas station in the city next door to Ferguson, Missouri, touching off clashes early Wednesday between demonstrators and law enforcement.

The mayor said that video from the confrontation, in the city of Berkeley, appeared to show the teenager pointing a gun at the officer, and police said a handgun was recovered at the scene. Police said the officer feared for his life.

"This was not the same as Ferguson," Mayor Theodore Hoskins said.

He took pains to say that the shooting could not be compared to the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson or to the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York. The mayor, who is black, pointed out that the Berkeley police department is majority-black.

He promised a thorough investigation but said that the video showed it was not a police officer going off "half-cocked." 

"Everybody don't die the same," he told reporters. "Some people die because the policeman initiated. Some people die because they initiated it. And at this point, our review indicates that the police did not initiate this, like Ferguson." 

A woman at the scene who identified herself as Toni Martin told NBC affiliate KSDK that the victim was her son, Antonio Martin, 18.

She said Martin was on his way to meet his girlfriend when the fatal encounter happened and that he was not carrying a gun. "He only just left the house to go see her," she said.

The mother said Antonio turned 18 in September and had attended nearby Jennings High School, and that she was trying to get him enrolled in the Jobs Corps employment program. She spoke as the body still lay covered on the ground outside the Mobil gas station.

"They got my baby laying out there. He's been out there for about two hours," she said.

The shooting took place just after 11 p.m. local time Tuesday. Chief Jon Belmar of the St. Louis County police said that the officer was white and a six-year veteran. The officer's name was not released. He was placed on administrative leave, Belmar said.

He said that the officer fired at least three rounds and that the victim did not fire any.

"These are nothing but tragedies," Belmar said as he offered his condolences to the victim's family. The officer "will have to carry the weight of this for the rest of his life," he said, adding: "There are no winners here." 

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