Teen’s death sparks riots
Shooting by police of an unarmed black man leads to looting and protests in St Louis
People smashed car windows and carried away armloads of looted goods from stores after thousands of people packed a suburban St Louis area at a vigil for an unarmed black man who was shot and killed by a police officer.
The candlelight gathering was for 18-year-old Michael Brown, who police said was shot multiple times on Sunday after a scuffle involving the officer, Brown and another person in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb of the city.
The killing drew criticism from some civil rights leaders, who cited the 2012 racially charged shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, by a Florida neighbourhood watch organiser who was acquitted of murder charges.
“We’re outraged because yet again a young African-American man has been killed by law enforcement,” said John Gaskin, who serves on both the St Louis County and national boards of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).
After the vigil, some people looted a convenience store. Several other stores along a main road near the shooting scene were broken into and looted, including a cheque-cashing store, a boutique and grocery store.
People were seen carrying bags of food and toilet paper. TV footage had gathered outside Ferguson police headquarters. At one point, many of them marched into an adjacent police building, some chanting “Don’t shoot me” while holding their hands in the air. Officers stood at the top of a staircase, but did not use force; the crowd eventually left.
County police chief Jon Belmar said the shooting occurred after an officer encountered two people — one of them Brown — on the street near an apartment complex in Ferguson.
Belmar said one of the men pushed the officer back into his squad car and a struggle began.
Belmar said at least one shot was fired from the officer’s gun inside the police car. Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson said authorities were still sorting out what happened inside the police car. It was not clear if Brown was the man who struggled with the officer.
The struggle spilled out into the street, where Brown was shot multiple times. Belmar said the exact number of shots was not known, but “it was more than just a couple”. He also said all shell casings found at the scene matched the officer’s gun.
Police are still investigating why the officer shot Brown, who police have confirmed was unarmed.
Jackson said the second person had not been arrested or charged. He said authorities were not sure if that person was unarmed. Marlene Pinnock said she thought she was going to die as a California Highway Patrol officer straddled her, repeatedly punching her head, on the side of a Los Angeles motorway. During an interview with AP — her first public comments since the July 1 incident was caught on now-viral video by a passing driver — Pinnock spoke haltingly or in a whisper, occasionally putting her hands to her temples and grimacing. “He grabbed me, he threw me down, he started beating me, he beat me. I felt like he was trying to kill me, beat me to death,” Pinnock said. She is suing CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow and Officer Daniel Andrew in federal court for civil rights violations. Liberia’s Government is cremating the remains of possible Ebola victims without testing whether they have the virus, leaving relatives unaware if they may be at risk of the disease as well. Guidelines to stop the spread of the outbreak in West Africa recommend that anyone who dies from an unconfirmed illness be tested for Ebola before the body is disposed of. As well as helping health officials to monitor the number of deaths, a positive result means the virus may well have been passed on to friends and relations. But, such is the chaos in Liberia’s health service, Ministry of Health undertakers are being instructed simply to take the dead directly for cremation. South Korea says it will provide US$13.3 million ($15.7 million) in funding for UN humanitarian projects in North Korea — its second indirect aid package for the North in a month. Seoul’s Unification Ministry said $US7 million would go to World Food Programme (WFP) projects in the North, and US$6.3 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The decision came a month after the ministry approved US$2.9 million in financial support for Seoul civic groups providing assistance to North Korea.