MICHIGAN 200 mark death of black man a year ago

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- About 200 people gathered in prayer to mark the one-year anniversary of a black man's death that touched off two days of racially charged rioting here.
The crowd stood amid balloons and flowers at the intersection in the residential neighborhood where 27-year-old Terrance Shurn died during a police chase in the early morning hours of June 16, 2003. The officers -- one white and one of mixed heritage -- were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Shurn's brother, Raynard Shurn, pleaded for the calm that followed the riots to continue. "Keep today peaceful, please," he said Wednesday night. "We don't want nothing else going on."
Much destruction
The evening of Shurn's death and again the following night, rioters burned down 21 buildings and set fire to seven others. Ten people were arrested, dozens of minor injuries were reported, several emergency vehicles were damaged or destroyed and a Michigan State Police trooper was fired upon.
At the vigil, Shurn said he lives for his brother and his brother continues to live through him.
"This event was about Terrance, not about all that hoopla in the community," said Shurn, 34, a former Benton Harbor police officer now employed by the city's public works department.
Shurn said that though he misses his brother every day, good has come out of the tragedy. The impoverished town of about 11,200, in southwestern Michigan, has been receiving grants to make some much-needed improvements.
"The good that's come out of it is the money that's been coming in, the recognition the city has been receiving," Shurn said.
After the vigil, about 11 p.m., the Berrien County Sheriff's Department sent officers in riot gear to the intersection to disperse a crowd that remained. There were no reports of violence.