51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Attorneys for the family of Mansur Ball-Bey, the 18-year-old fatally shot by police last week while executing a search warrant for drugs and guns, on Monday led reporters on a tour of the home to bolster their position that he wasn鈥檛 in the house when it was raided.

Police have said Ball-Bey and a 14-year-old ran out the back door of the residence and encountered two officers in the alley. They say Ball-Bey pointed a stolen handgun with an extended magazine at one of them.

The second-story flat at 1243 Walton Avenue has a long, steep rear staircase that leads to a door secured with a board. From there, attorneys showed how Ball-Bey would have had to run across the backyard, hop a fence into the alley, then run through another nearby backyard to the south and down a gangway before collapsing from a single gunshot wound to the back.

鈥淭he police narration isn鈥檛 plausible at all,鈥� Jermaine Wooten, an attorney for Ball-Bey鈥檚 family, said at the scene. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a lot of running he would have had to do to get to this point.鈥�

Ball-Bey鈥檚 cousins live at the residence, but they told attorneys he wasn鈥檛 at the home when police arrived. They said he was coming there from work at FedEx shortly before the shooting.

Wooten said the 14-year-old boy who escaped arrest told him in an interview that he and Ball-Bey were unarmed and had been surprised to see two men with guns run up on them in the back alley. He said the 14-year-old said they ran to avoid attack and didn鈥檛 realize the two men were police officers.

鈥淚f we had body cameras we wouldn鈥檛 have the controversy we are having now,鈥� added attorney Jerryl Christmas.

Representatives of the 51黑料 police Force Investigative Unit also showed up Monday for the tour. They weren鈥檛 allowed inside the home, but they video-recorded some of the attorneys鈥� statements.

鈥淢r. Wooten has obviously talked to witnesses that we haven鈥檛 talked to,鈥� Lt. Roger Engelhardt said at the scene. 鈥淲e encourage those witnesses to come forward so we can interview them and get their perspective on this incident.鈥�

Engelhardt declined to answer specific questions about the case for fear that it would influence witness statements. He wouldn鈥檛 comment about the two officers involved in the incident.

While attorneys tried to punch holes in the official narrative of the case, Christmas and Wooten said they haven鈥檛 asked witnesses about the crack and stolen guns police found at the residence. 鈥淲e were not interested in that portion of it,鈥� Wooten said.

Meanwhile, funeral services for Ball-Bey are set for this weekend. A short visitation will be held Saturday before a 10:30 a.m. funeral service at Christ Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, 1341 North Kingshighway.