Police chief names officer who shot and killed unarmed black teenager

St Louis police yesterday identified the officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager and released documents alleging the young man had been suspected of stealing a $48.99 box of cigars from a shop in a "strong-arm" robbery shortly before he was killed.

Police Chief Thomas Jackson said the officer did not know the teen was a robbery suspect at the time of the shooting in the town of Ferguson and stopped Michael Brown and a companion “because they were walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic”.

Darren Wilson, 28, has been an officer in suburban St Louis for six years and had no complaints filed against him, Jackson said.