18-year-old boy Vonderrit Myers Jr shot and killed by off-duty St Louis police officer

An 18-year-old man has died after an off-duty police officer shot at him 17 times - just miles from where unarmed teen Michael Brown was gunned down by a cop in August.

Police said that Vonderrit Myers Jr. first opened fire on the unidentified 32-year-old officer in Shaw, Missouri, which is less than 10 miles from Ferguson, where Brown was shot dead on August 9.

The officer, who is a six-year veteran of the force, was in a car working a secondary job for a private security company when he saw three males in the street, St Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said in an early-moing press conference.

As he approached them, one of them started to run away, so the officer did a U-tu and then all three ran, Dotson said, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The officer jumped out of his car and chased them on foot before getting into a scuffle with Myers, who then reached for his gun, Dotson said.

Myers shot at least three times at the officer, who then retued fire - and when the teenager tried to fire again, his gun jammed, Dotson said.

The officer, a white male, then fired 17 times at the teenager - but it is not yet known how many times he was struck. He died from his injuries.

Police recovered a 9mm Ruger at the scene, he said.

Dotson said that the 18-year-old was 'no stranger to law enforcement', the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported. 

His family said he was still in high school and disputed police claims that he was armed.   

'He was unarmed,' said his cousin, Teyonna Myers, to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 'He had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun. It’s like Michael Brown all over again.' 

The boy's uncle, Jackie Williams, also says he is not buying the story being told by police. 

'My nephew was coming out of a store from purchasing a sandwich. Security was supposedly searching for someone else. They Tased him,' Williams said. 

'I don’t know how this happened, but they went off and shot him 16 times. That’s outright murder.'

Officers are claiming they recovered a gun at the scene and that the officer did not have a Taser.

Another man, Lavell Boyd, who lives in the neighborhood, claimed to hear as many as 15 shots fired

'When I pulled up I saw the cop standing over him [Myers] then he pointed the gun at everyone else telling everyone to get back while he was searching for another clip,' Boyd said. 

It has been reported that the officer was not harmed. 

This comes just days after St. Louis Cardinals fans were seen screaming racial insults at protesters in the city. 

David Carson, a photographer for the Post-Dispatch, reports that protesters are already filling the streets near where the shooting happened and have been chanting 'Black lives matter.' 

Some also vandalized a police SUV as they chanted 'F*** the police.'