According to police accounts, gunfire rang out and the alleged shooter, 18-year-old Tyrone Harris Jr.
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Police arrested almost two dozen people in Ferguson during a protest that stretched into early Tuesday marking the anniversary of the fatal shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old African-American by a white police officer, although there was no repeat of the violence that scarred weekend demonstrations. The clip shows a person police identify as Harris grabbing a handgun from his waistband and running toward a parking lot, police say in response to the other shots being fired. Protesters ducked for cover and a young man opened fire at an unmarked police vehicle, police said. “He was running for his… life because someone was shooting at him”, Mr Tyrone Harris Sr said, before the video was released.
The demonstrations that followed Brown’s killing in August 2014 threw the St. Louis suburb into the national spotlight and sparked calls for better treatment of minorities by police. But a year after the death of Michael Brown, many citizens are still outraged at the fact that Officer Darren Wilson was cleared of any wrongdoing after shooting the teenager dead.
“We don’t want to lose all that we’ve gained”, said County Executive Steve Stenger.
“I think they took command out of the hands of the new chief of Ferguson pretty fast”, said Mayo. St. Louis County Police said at one point officers “successfully negotiated” with demonstrators to leave the middle of a roadway. The officers returned fire from inside the vehicle and then pursued the man on foot when he ran.
On Monday night, the police presence was far greater. Mary Chandler has seen this type of back-and-forth between police and protesters so many times.
US citizens have the right to take to the streets in a peaceful manner, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman told reporters Tuesday. A 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol, reported stolen in Cape Girardeau, was found next to him, officials said.
HuffPost Live host Marc Lamont Hill, who was in Ferguson that day, shared his understanding of the events with host Zerlina Maxwell on Monday. “With your support, we properly honored your friend and my son’s memory”.
Protesters and police stood on opposite sides of the street just after midnight Tuesday, chatting and milling around.
St. Louis County authorities could lift a state of emergency in Ferguson Wednesday after an evening saw no arrests during street protests in marked contrast to two nights of unrest.
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Several members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government activist group largely made up of past and present military personnel, first responders and law enforcement personnel, showed up along West Florissant Avenue late Tuesday.
