Police: St. Louis officers kill knife-wielding suspect

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis police say officers shot and killed a 23-year-old man who was wielding a knife and refused to drop it.

Police Chief Sam Dotson said officers responded to Tuesday to a store where the man was reported to have stolen energy drinks and a pastry.

Dotson says the man was acting erratically and told responding officers to “shoot me now, kill me now.”

He says officers opened fire when the man began approaching them with the knife.

KMOV reports a large crowd gathered at the scene, not far from Ferguson, which has seen days of protests over the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer.

No officers were injured in the incident Tuesday.

This story was originally published August 19, 2014 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Police: St. Louis officers kill knife-wielding suspect ."