UPDATED at 2 p.m. Thursday with guns, "a quantity of marijuana" found in home, according to police.
ST. LOUIS • SWAT officers shot and killed a man who opened fire on them with an AK-47 as they tried to serve a warrant Wednesday morning at a home on South Kingshighway, police said.
“It was a firefight inside that house,†acting Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole said. “Numerous shots were fired.â€
Killed in the exchange was Isaiah M. Hammett, 21, who was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured.
O’Toole said that about 11:20 a.m., eight members of the St. Louis police SWAT team arrived to execute a search warrant at the single-family residence in the the 5400 block of South Kingshighway.
They announced their presence, then broke down the door and threw in a “flash-bang†diversion device, he said.
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Once they entered the house, Hammett fired multiple shots at officers with the AK-47 rifle, and the officers returned fire, striking him, police said.
The department's  will look into the shooting, as is protocol.
O’Toole said First District detectives recently had been conducting an investigation and suspected that Hammett was involved in the sale of illegal guns and drugs.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, police displayed the semi-automatic AK-47 rifle and its 30-round magazine.
Along with that rifle, police said Thursday they recovered 14 other weapons from the home, and are now checking each weapon's history. Police also said Thursday that "a quantity of marijuana" was recovered, but did not specify an amount.
O’Toole said that the house had surveillance cameras mounted on the exterior, and that may have alerted Hammett to the officers’ arrival.
“As soon as they got into the house, (Hammett) started firing,†O’Toole said.
Family members said Hammett lived at the address and cared for his grandfather, who uses a wheelchair.
The grandfather, Dennis Torres, said he was in bed when he heard gunshots. Hammett rushed into the room and told him someone was trying to break into the house.
Dennis Torres, 71, talks to the press about the shooting of his grandson, Isaiah Hammett, 21, by police at his home in the 5400 block of South Kingshighway in St. Louis on Wednesday, June 7, 2017. Behind Torres is Hammett's mother, Gina Torres (right). Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
Hammett pulled Torres out of bed and onto the floor, Torres said. Then Torres heard more shots and saw his grandson on the floor.
Torres said he had at least one handgun and several rifles in the home, which he said he legally owned.
He said he didn’t know if Hammett had a weapon when the police entered the home, but said they had no idea who was coming in.
“If I could have got to a gun, I would have returned fire, too,†Torres said. “I didn’t know who was trying to break into my home.â€
The home is a single-family bungalow on the east side of Kingshighway, just south of Eichelberger Street.
About 30 friends and family members gathered nearby at the shooting. Many were emotional or angry at police.
Hammett’s mother, Gina Torres, said police were “making up lies†about her son and had recently been paying closer attention to the Kingshighway home.
She said Hammett’s car recently was “shot up by an AK assault rifle†while parked in front of the house.
The home is on the edge of the Princeton Heights neighborhood. It is .
Hammett was on probation for a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge after being found guilty by a judge in October 2015. Court documents in that case show he had two other misdemeanor convictions, one for stealing and another also for marijuana possession.
Gina Torres (second from right) is hugged by friends after her son, Isaiah Hammett, 21, was shot and killed by police in the 5400 block of South Kingshighway in St. Louis on Wednesday, June 7, 2017. Police were conducting a search warrant at the house where Hammett lived when the shooting took place.
Vigil and march
Late Wednesday, several people staged an impromptu vigil for Hammett outside his home and then marched north on Kingshighway.
They said they wanted to draw attention to a shooting they considered unjustified. "We felt this wasn't right and we wanted the community to know," said Dawn Atwell, who is Hammett's grandmother.
Jeremiah Hammett, who is Isaiah's uncle, said the family wants Isaiah's death examined. "We're asking for a full investigation," he said.Â
The protest prompted police to close the intersection of Kingshighway and Chippewa Street and a few nearby blocks for more than an hour.Â
Police Capt. Steve Mueller said police closed the roads for the safety of those involved in the protest. "We facilitated their free speech by protecting them as they walked," he said.
He also said that no arrests were made.
One of the marchers was struck by a car that reportedly refused to yield the road to the protest.Â
Mueller said the woman was taken to a hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life threatening.
Nassim Benchaabane and Joel Currier of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
