Missouri Cops Shoot Unarmed Teen, Spark Angry Response from Community, Caught on Video
Police in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown while he was going to his grandmother's house, according to his mother, producing an immediate angry backlash from the community. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports:
[A witness] said she saw the teen, hands in the air, attempt to flee [when police tried to put him in a squad car]. Several shots hit Brown as he ran, Crenshaw said. She complied with a request that she give photos of the scene to authorities…
The shooting sparked a furious backlash.
Further shots were heard as police arrived immediately after the shooting but no one was injured as angry residents screamed obscenities mixed with threats to "kill the police." More than 60 area police officers responded to the scene.
Louis Head, Brown's stepfather, held a sign that said: "Ferguson police just executed my unarmed son!!!"
Tension flared off and on through the evening. A calm settled over the area after mourners gathered at a prayer circle — watched over by a St. Louis County police officer sitting atop a SWAT vehicle
Brown was scheduled to start college in the fall. Police had no comment on what happened, saying only that they had referred the shooting to county police and that they were "hoping for calm" as the investigation was conducted, advice it seems is rarely heeded by cops when one of their own is shot.
Watch video of cops trying to break up a spontaneous protest after the shooting, via the Post-Dispatch, here.
h/t Mark Sletten
