Rare News Desk
FERGUSON, Mo.—A day of anger over a fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in suburban St. Louis turned to mayhem as people looted businesses, vandalized vehicles and confronted police who sought to block off access to several areas of the city.
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The tensions erupted after a candlelight vigil Sunday night for 18-year-old Michael Brown, who police said was shot multiple times the previous afternoon after a scuffle involving a police officer, Mr. Brown and another person in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb of the city.
Afterward, a convenience store was looted. Several other stores along a main road near the shooting scene were broken into, including a check-cashing store, a boutique and a small grocery store. People also took items from a sporting goods store and a cellphone retailer, and carted rims away from a tire store.
TV footage showed streams of people walking out of a liquor store carrying bottles of alcohol, and in some cases protesters were standing atop police cars or taunting officers who stood stoic, often in riot gear.
Other witnesses reported seeing people vandalize police cars and kick in windows. Television footage showed windows busted out of a TV station van.
Police were having a hard time catching looters because crimes were happening at several locations in Ferguson and spilling into neighboring communities, Mayor James Knowles told KTVI-TV. It wasn’t immediately clear how many arrests were made. Authorities set up some blockades to try to keep people from the most looted areas.
While St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley said that there were no reports of injuries as of about 11 p.m., there also were scattered reports of assaults into the early morning. Pat Washington, a spokeswoman for Mr. Dooley, there was one instance she knew of in which tear gas was used. There were scattered media reports of gunfire but authorities didn’t immediately confirm any.
“Right now, the small group of people are creating a huge mess,” Mr. Knowles told KTVI-TV. “Contributing to the unrest that is going on is not going to help.…We’re only hurting ourselves, only hurting our community, hurting our neighbors. There’s nothing productive from this.”
As the investigation of Mr. Brown’s death progresses, “we understand people want to vent their frustrations. We understand they want to speak out,” Knowles added. “We’re going to obviously try to urge calm.”
County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the shooting occurred after an officer encountered two people—one of whom was Mr. Brown—on the street near an apartment complex in Ferguson.
Mr. Belmar said one of the men pushed the officer back into his squad car and a struggle began. Mr. 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 wasn’t clear if Mr. Brown was the man who struggled with the officer.
The struggle spilled out into the street, where Mr. Brown was shot multiple times. Mr. Belmar said the exact number of shots wasn’t 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 Mr. Brown, who police have confirmed was unarmed.
Mr. Jackson said the second person hasn’t been arrested or charged and that authorities aren’t sure if that person was unarmed.
Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told KSDK-TV there is no apparent video footage of the shooting from a nearby apartment complex, or from any police cruiser dashboard cameras or body-worn cameras that the department recently bought but hasn’t yet put in use.
Mr. Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, said he had graduated from high school and was about to enter a local college. She said she doesn’t understand why police didn’t subdue her son with a club or Taser, and she said the officer involved should be fired and prosecuted.
“I would like to see him go to jail with the death penalty,” she said, fighting back tears.
The killing drew criticism from some civil rights leaders, who referred to the 2012 racially charged shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer 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 NAACP.
St. Louis County Police Department is in charge of the investigation, and Mr. Dooley said he would request an FBI investigation. The U.S. Justice Department said Attorney General Eric Holder had instructed staff to monitor developments.
The race of the officer involved in the shooting hasn’t been disclosed. He has been placed on paid administrative leave.
