March, moment of silence mark anniversary in Ferguson

Shots were fired on Sunday during a march in Ferguson, Missouri to mark the one year anniversary of the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, police said. Brown, who was unarmed, was shot by Officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014, and the event sparked protests and unrest in the St. Louis suburb. A grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November, but the shooting touched off a national “Black Lives Matter” movement.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said he was angry that a shooting had marred the weekend’s events in Ferguson, which have so far gone off without major incidents or arrests.

Michael Brown Sr., the father of Michael Brown, who was shot and killed during a confrontation with a police officer last year, says on the eve of his death that his family is still in mourning. Brown then stopped and turned to face the officer and Wilson shot him several times with the bullets, striking Brown in the front.

He said the marchers want Congress to pass laws to end racial profiling and increase accountability for police officers, and they want communities to retrain their officers and use evidence-based strategies for policing.

Some who marched in the Saturday parade wore T-shirts with likenesses of Brown or messages such as “Please stop killing us” or “Hands up!”

The charred husks of businesses burned down by arsonists after the grand jury’s decision in November not to indict Wilson have been swept away.

Aleem Maqbool reports from Ferguson.

Erica Snipes, the daughter of Eric Garner, who was also killed by police, was present and said that outrage over the deaths needs to turn into pressure on elected officials.

Asked why police violence happens, 62 percent of whites said a major reason is that civilians confront the police, rather than cooperate, when they are stopped.

Ferguson’s metropolis supervisor, police chief and municipal decide resigned inside days of that report.

The crowds were mainly subdued during mid-day, but they eventually picked up when hundreds of people made their way to the Ferguson Police Department and mocked the officers who looked on. All three were white.

“I think we’re going to come out of this, and eventually we’re going to come out of it even stronger, in my opinion”, said Wesley Bell, one of two black members newly elected to the formerly white-dominated Ferguson City Council.