Police shooting of teen draws protests
Unarmed teen killed after scuffle over police gun
Unarmed 18-year-old shot in St. Louis suburb Turkey elects Erdogan
FERGUS ON, MO. A few thousand people attended a vigil Sunday for an unarmed black man shot and killed by a suburban St. Louis police officer.
Police reportedly donned tear gas masks during the vigil for Michael Brown, 18, who died on Saturday after being shot multiple times by a Ferguson police officer.
One group of young men broke off to spray paint “R.I.P. Michael” on the street, and others placed candles, flowers and a teddy bear at the exact location where Brown was killed.
Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., said he appreciated the outpouring of support.
There were reports of some looting and vandalism after the vigil.
Earlier in the day, shouts of “No justice, no peace!” and “We want answers!” nearly drowned out a news conference as St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar detailed the shooting.
It began with an altercation involving two men and the officer around noon on Saturday, Belmar said. One of the men pushed the officer into his patrol car, there was a scuffle over the officer’s gun, and the officer fired a shot.
Seconds later, outside the cruiser, he fired several more shots, and 18-year-old Michael Brown lay dead.
Brown was unarmed, and all the shell casings found on the ground were from the officer’s gun, Belmar said.
Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, said Sunday she doesn’t understand why police didn’t subdue her son with a club or Taser. She said police have not explained why her son was confronted by the officer.
“I would like to see him fired,” McSpadden said. “I would like to see him go to jail with the death penalty.”
“My son just turned 18 and graduated from high school, and he don’t bother nobody,” she said Saturday night. She said he was looking forward to starting at Vatterott College next week.
“I would like to see (the police officer who shot my son) fired. I would like to see him go to jail with the death penalty.” Lesley McSpadden,
Brown’s mother
“They told me how many times my son was shot. Eight,” McSpadden said. She said he was visiting his grandmother, who lives in the complex, and was returning from the store.
The St. Louis County NAACP called for an FBI investigation. Belmar has contacted the FBI.
The officer who shot Brown has not been identified by police. He had been with the Ferguson Police Department for about six years, Belmar said. He has been put on paid administrative leave.
The St. Louis County Police Department said Ferguson police cars do not have dash cameras and there is no surveillance video at the apartment complex where the shooting occurred.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay tweeted Sunday saying he stands with County Executive Charlie Dooley in his call “for a full and open inquiry into yesterday’s shooting in Ferguson.”
Protesters called for 10,000 people to join them at 10 a.m. today at the Ferguson Police Department. The crowd marched through the streets Sunday morning and afternoon.