A contingent of the National Guard has been deployed in the US city of St. Louis, ahead of expected public unrest after a former police officer was acquitted of all charges related to the killing of an unarmed black man.
The incident dates back to 2011, when former officer Jason Stockley shot and killed 24-year-old black man Anthony Lamar Smith after a car chase.
The prosecution argued that Stockley killed Smith and then planted a gun inside the victim’s vehicle. The ex-officer claimed to have acted in self-defence, as he thought that Smith was reaching for a gun. Smith was shot five times.
Although a weapon was recovered from Smith’s car, tests proved that only Stockley’s DNA was on it.
Several high-profile cases of white police officers killing unarmed black men across the United States have sparked mass protests in recent times.