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Authorities are identifying the man shot to death by two St. Louis police officers during Mardi Gras as 32 year old Otis Roberson.

Witnesses told police that Roberson had been brawling with another man and then pulled a gun, firing at least one shot into the air.

St. Louis Police Lt. Col. Lawrence O’Toole says two St. Louis police officers had been patroling nearby when they heard the shot. When arrived, the officers ordered Roberson to drop his gun, but instead he turned and pointed the weapon at police. O'Toole says both officers fired several shots, striking Roberson. The North County man later died at the hospital.

Mardi Gras Inc. spokesman Mack Bradley praised the officers for acting appropriately. Both officers had been working for Mardi Gras Inc. under a secondary employment agreement allowing police to work extra jobs during their off hours. Both are veterans with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, one with 22 years on duty and the other with 33 years on the force. Both have been placed on routine administrative leave.

This is the first fatal shooting in the Soulard festival's 34 year history.

St. Louis police reported that 80 people were arrested during the Mardi Gras celebrations in Soulard Saturday. Seventy-six of them were juveniles arrested for consumption of alcohol by a minor.

VAN BUREN, Mo. (AP) -- A young Missouri lawmaker who promised a "fresh approach" and denounced "reckless spending in Washington" won the Republican nomination Saturday to replace resigned U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson.

State Rep. Jason Smith prevailed after six rounds of voting by an 84-person committee of local Republican leaders and immediately became the favorite in a June 4 special election in the GOP-leaning 8th District.

"We're going to win this seat," Smith declared to the applause of fellow Republicans after accepting the nomination. "The fiscal responsibility in Washington, D.C., is what's destroying our country, and we've got to take control of it and get it back," he added.

At age 32, Smith would be one of the younger members of Congress, but he already has plenty of experience as a lawmaker. Smith won a special election to the Missouri House of Representatives in November 2005 and, because of term limits, is now one of the most senior members of the chamber. After serving as majority party whip, his colleagues elected him in January as House speaker pro tem - the No. 2 ranking position.

On Saturday, he defeated nine other GOP candidates, including Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, former state Sen. Jason Crowell and former state party Chairman Lloyd Smith, who had been Emerson's chief of staff.

Missouri's 8th Congressional District is one of three vacant seats in the nation, but it's the only one where party leaders - not voters - are choosing the candidates. Democrats are to select their nominee next weekend.

Emerson, 62, resigned Jan. 22 to become president and CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, ending a 32-year run of family representation in Congress. Her late husband, Republican Rep. Bill Emerson, first won the seat in 1980 and served until he died of lung cancer in June 1996. Jo Ann Emerson then won an election to succeed her husband and rarely faced a formidable challenge thereafter.

Missouri's sprawling 8th District stretches south from the outer suburbs of St. Louis to the agricultural-base of the Missouri Bootheel and westward to the rolling Ozark hills. The district's residents are the poorest and least educated in Missouri, with a median household income of less than $36,000 and more than 85 percent lacking college bachelor's degrees.

A resident of rural Salem, Smith touted the fact that he drove 10,000 miles to all 30 counties in the district and visited with each committee member over the past two months. Smith is a man of many trades. He owns a fourth-generation family farm with about 30 cattle, is an attorney and also a partner in a real estate business.

During a speech Saturday before committee members began voting, Smith pledged to "bring a fresh approach" to conservative policies without trying to "speak and yell the loudest." He lead after each round of voting, gradually pick up more support as other candidates were dropped from the ballot.

Smith described himself as more conservative than U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and said his goal is "to cooperate but not compromise on your core values." He asserted that President Barack Obama and "Washington, D.C., liberals" are twisting the words of the Declaration of Independence by trying to "guarantee happiness" instead of simply assuring people have the right to pursue happiness.

Federal spending, Obama's health care law and policies that "tax the rich to give to the poor" all are making the country "less American," Smith said. "It makes us less independent, less prosperous and less free." Because there was no traditional primary, there was no mass media advertising and little need for candidates to fund raise. Consequently, the campaign was intensely personal. Many candidates met face-to-face with committee members in their homes, coffee shops or at public forums. On the eve of Saturday's meeting, for example, the eventual finalists all dined at the same restaurant in Van Buren - each seated at separate tables conversing with committee members. Their handshake campaigning continued up to the last minute before the meeting was gaveled into session Saturday.

Smith portrayed a less confrontational style than some of the other finalists.

Kinder, for example, had pledged to be Boehner's "worst headache" if he didn't get spending under control. Crowell had emphasized his record of shutting down debate in the state Senate to block spending with which he disagreed. Lloyd Smith had declared federal debt to be the "new red menace" that is destroying the nation's future.

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) -- More than 100 officers fanned out again at daybreak Saturday in the snow-covered San Bernardino Mountains, resuming the search for the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a deadly rampage to get back at those he blamed for ending his career. Authorities hope clearer skies will allow aircraft to help them in the manhunt for Christopher Dorner, which entered its fourth day Saturday. Relentless snowfall on Friday grounded helicopters with heat-sensing technology and hampered their effort to find Dorner, whose burned-out pickup truck was found a day earlier in this ski resort town. SWAT teams in camouflage scoured the mountains and went door-to-door examining vacant cabins, aware to the reality they could be walking into a trap set by the well-trained former Navy reservist who knows their tactics and strategies as well as they do. "He can be behind every tree," said T. Gregory Hall, a retired tactical supervisor for a special emergency response team for the Pennsylvania State Police. "He can try to draw them into an ambush area where he backtracks." As authorities weathered heavy snow and freezing temperatures in the mountains, thousands of heavily armed police remained on the lookout throughout California, Nevada, Arizona and northern Mexico for a suspect bent on revenge and willing to die. Police said officers still were guarding more than 40 people mentioned as targets in a rant they said Dorner posted on Facebook. He vowed to use "every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordnance and survival training I've been given" to bring "warfare" to the LAPD and its families. The manhunt had Southern California residents on edge. Unconfirmed sightings were reported near Barstow, about 60 miles north of the mountain search, and in downtown Los Angeles. Some law enforcement officials said he appeared to be everywhere and nowhere, and speculated that he was trying to spread out their resources. For the time being, their focus was on the mountains 80 miles east of Los Angeles - a snowy wilderness, filled with thick forests and jagged peaks, that creates peril as much for Dorner as the officers hunting him. The small army hunting him has the advantage of strength in numbers and access to resources, such as special weapons, to bring him in. In his online rant, Dorner baited authorities. "Any threat assessments you generate will be useless," it read. "I have the strength and benefits of being unpredictable, unconventional, and unforgiving." Without the numbers that authorities have, Dorner holds one advantage: the element of surprise. Authorities said they do not know how long Dorner had been planning the rampage or why he drove to the San Bernardino Mountains. Property records show his mother owns undeveloped land nearby, but a search of the area found no sign of him. It was not clear if he had provisions, clothing or weapons stockpiled in the area. Even with training, days of cold and snow can be punishing. "Unless he is an expert in living in the California mountains in this time of year, he is going to be hurting," said former Navy SEAL Clint Sparks, who now works in tactical training and security. "Cold is a huge stress factor. ... Not everybody is survivor-man." Jamie Usera, an attorney in Salem, Ore., who befriended Dorner when they were students and football teammates at Southern Utah University, said he introduced him to the outdoors. Originally from Alaska, Usera said, he taught Dorner about hunting and other outdoor activities. "Of all the people I hung out with in college, he is the last guy I would have expected to be in this kind of situation," Usera, who had lost touch with Dorner is recent years, told the Los Angeles Times. Others saw Dorner differently. Court documents obtained by The Associated Press on Friday show an ex-girlfriend of Dorner's called him "severely emotionally and mentally disturbed" after the two split in 2006. Dorner served in the Navy, earning a rifle marksman ribbon and pistol expert medal. He was assigned to a naval undersea warfare unit and various aviation training units, according to military records. He took leave from the LAPD for a six-month deployment to Bahrain in 2006 and 2007. Last Friday was his last day with the Navy and also the day CNN's Anderson Cooper received a package that contained a note on it that read, in part, "I never lied." A coin riddled with bullet holes that former Chief William Bratton gave out as a souvenir was also in the package. Police said it was a sign of planning by Dorner before the killing began. On Sunday, police say Dorner shot and killed a couple in a parking garage at their condominium in Irvine. The woman was the daughter of a retired police captain who had represented Dorner in the disciplinary proceedings that led to his firing. Dorner wrote in his manifesto that he believed the retired captain had represented the interests of the department over his. Hours after authorities identified Dorner as a suspect in the double murder, police believe Dorner shot and grazed an LAPD officer in Corona and then used a rifle to ambush two Riverside police officers early Thursday, killing one and seriously wounding the other. The incident led police to believe he was armed with multiple weapons, including an assault-type rifle. That detail concerned officers whose bullet-proof vests can be penetrated by such high-powered weapons, said LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese. As a result, all LAPD officers have been required to work in pairs to ensure "a greater likelihood of coming out on top if there is an ambush," Albanese said. "We have no officers alone right now."