Medical examiner finds Missouri man's death during police confrontation was suicide

By Sue Britt

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - An autopsy released on Tuesday has found that an 18-year-old Missouri man shot himself in the head in a suicide after exchanging gunfire with police.

Amonderez Green died on Oct. 29 after a confrontation with police in the St. Louis suburb of Normandy, and his father and some witnesses later challenged police reports that he shot himself with his .38-caliber gun after firing at officers.

In the autopsy released on Tuesday, the St. Louis County medical examiner's office officially ruled the death a suicide.

Green shot himself in the head, with the bullet entering from his chin area, the autopsy found.

Normandy, the community where the confrontation took place, is just south of Ferguson where a white policeman shot to death an unarmed 18-year-old black man last year in an incident that caused widespread protests. A grand jury declined to charge the officer in that shooting.

Normandy police said Green's family had requested help from authorities as the distraught and suicidal teen walked through the Ferguson area with his family members trailing him in two cars to monitor him. He refused to cooperate with police and fired on them, without hitting any officer.

In return, one officer shot at Green but did not hit him, authorities have said.

A report from the medical examiner's office detailing the narrative of the confrontation said officers chasing Green watched him run to the back yard of a house and they heard a gunshot before seeing him fall to the ground.

(Writing and additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)