Police shooting, protests put Ferguson back on edge

A protest marking the one-year anniversary of the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown has been marred by violence in Ferguson, Missouri.

White, black, old and young people, some pushing children in strollers, turned out for a day of commemorative events in this mostly black St. Louis suburb where Michael Brown, 18, was fatally shot on August 9, 2014.

The anniversary of 18-year-old Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, began with a solemn march in his honor and ended in a rowdy protest.

The gunfire caught police and protesters off guard.

The suspect fired on officers again after he became trapped in a fenced-in area, the chief said, and all four officers fired back.

“People are mad. They’re exhausted of the police”, he said.

At this time, there are three people that have been reported as shot and four arrested due to the violent overtaking of the protest.

Mr. Gassoway said a fellow protester and activist, Tony Rice, was briefly detained by police after taking video footage of a man who was wounded by gunfire and lay on the ground with officers nearby.

The shooting happened shortly after a separate incident that the chief called “an exchange of gunfire between two groups” rang out around 11:15 p.m. Sunday while protesters were gathered on West Florissant Avenue, a business zone that saw rioting and looting last year after Brown’s killing.

The office of St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch on Monday announced charges that include five counts of armed criminal action, four counts of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and one firearms charge.

He was “running for his life” just like everyone else, she said, when the gunshots were fired.

“It was a poor decision to use plainclothes officers in a protest setting because it made it hard for people to identify police officers, which is essential to the safety of community members”, Kayla Reed, a field organizer with the Organization of Black Struggle, said in a statement.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the unidentified man, believed to be in his mid-20s, was hospitalized in critical and unstable condition.

The St. Louis County police said frozen water bottles were thrown at officers, prompting them to order the crowd to disperse or face arrest.

Later Monday, activists targeted the St. Louis County headquarters of Enterprise Holdings, the nation’s largest vehicle rental company, to protest the work of the Keefe Group, a subsidiary that stocks prison commissaries where inmates can buy snacks, clothing, toiletries, prepaid telephone calling cards and other items. The suspect allegedly shot into the windshield of the van.

The St. Louis County Police Department said on Twitter that the shooting took place “after officers came under heavy gunfire”.

The officers fired back at him from inside the vehicle and then pursued him on foot when he ran. “And the police department really needs to look at what they did last year and today”. Some carried signs or wore shirts commemorating others who have been killed in confrontations with police. A 17-year-old was shot in the chest and shoulder, and a 19-year-old was shot in the chest, but their injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

The anniversary of Brown’s death has sparked renewed protests, though ones much smaller than those a year ago. Two officers were pepper sprayed by protesters while one officer was injured from a thrown rock.

For the first time in three consecutive nights of demonstrations, some officers were dressed in riot gear, including bulletproof vests and helmets with shields. Mr. Belmar said one police officer was treated for a face injury but didn’t comment on the number of arrests.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Paul Hampel was beaten and robbed by attackers while covering the unrest.

Rallies to remember Brown went ahead peacefully over the weekend, until Tyrone Harris was shot by police at around 11pm on Sunday night on West Florissant Avenue. He was bloodied and spent the night in a hospital with a concussion.