( CNN ) -- Syreeta Myers knows what it is to lose her only child . `` It 's the worst pain ever . '' `` My life is empty now . My heart is empty . '' More than half a dozen bullets struck Vonderrit Deondre Myers , 18 , in an encounter with an off-duty police officer . All but one of the shots were nonlethal , striking his lower extremities . The lethal shot hit him in the head . Myers ' mother , Syreeta , does n't believe her son did anything wrong and blames police . `` They took him away from me , '' she told CNN 's Jason Carroll on Friday . `` He was just getting something to eat . '' But police said Myers shot first , firing three times at the man in a police uniform , who was working on a private security patrol in a neighborhood . The officer returned fire with 17 rounds . It started when Myers and two other males ran from the officer , who was in a car , St. Louis police said . The off-duty officer pursued them because he thought one of them had a handgun . He tussled with Myers , who pulled a weapon , police said . After the exchange of fire , Myers was pronounced dead on the scene . A 9 mm weapon was recovered -- the gun Myers fired with , police said . It was jammed , they said , no longer readily able to fire . The gun had been reported stolen in late September . Investigators recovered bullets that had flown in the officer 's direction . One was lodged in a car , police said Friday . iReport video : Shots fired at St. Louis protest . Protesters invoke Michael Brown . Protesters took to St. Louis streets for two nights this week , and some of them drew parallels to the shooting of Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson . Myers and Brown were both 18 , African-American and killed by white police officers . One big difference : Police said Brown was unarmed . Chants of `` no justice , no peace '' rang into the night as crowds rallied after the Wednesday evening shooting . One officer suffered minor injuries and two police cruisers were damaged , Jackson said . A handful of arrests were made . Protesters also burned at least one American flag , CNN affiliate KSDK reported . `` It 's a clear case of this young man being gunned down by an insensitive white officer who was off-duty , '' Akbar Muhammad , who also is a member of a coalition calling for the officer who shot Brown to be prosecuted , told CNN affiliate KTVI . Police lawyer : Force not excessive . Neil Bruntrager , a lawyer for the St. Louis Police Officers ' Association , dismissed accusations that 17 shots were excessive . `` When he uses deadly force , he uses deadly force until the threat is gone , '' he said on `` Erin Burnett OutFront . '' Without video of the incident or unbiased witnesses , the police and the public must rely on physical evidence , he said . Van Jones , a civil rights activist and CNN contributor , said there is a lot of police mistrust after the Brown killing . `` You 're seeing a wholesale breakdown of trust , '' he said . The officer , a six-year veteran who has not been named , was placed on administrative leave , per standard department procedure . He served two tours of duty with the military in Iraq and was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart , Bruntrager said . CNN 's Shawn Nottingham contributed to this report .
Vonderrit Deondre Myers ' mother : `` It 's the worst pain ever '' Myers was in a gunbattle with an off-duty police officer , police say . He fired three shots at the officer before his gun jammed ; the officer shot 17 times , police say .