Vandalism reported after vigil for unarmed black teen in Missouri

Associated Press

FERGUSON, Mo.

Some incidents of looting and vandalism have been reported after a vigil for an unarmed black man who was shot and killed by a suburban St. Louis police officer.

A few thousand people had crammed the street Sunday night for the vigil for 18-year-old Michael Brown, who died a day earlier.

An Associated Press reporter saw some people looting a convenience store. Other witnesses reported seeing car windows kicked out.

Several dozen protesters sat down in the street in a face-off with police in riot gear. Police made no move toward them.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. St. Louis county officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Police say Brown was shot multiple times after a scuffle involving the officer and two people.

Residents protested, and a civil-rights leader expressed outrage at the killing.

Brown had graduated from high school and was about to enter college, said his mother, Lesley McSpadden.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the shooting occurred after an officer encountered two people — one of whom was Brown — on the street near an apartment complex Saturday afternoon in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb a few miles north of downtown St. Louis.

Belmar said one of the men pushed the officer back into his squad car, and a struggle began. Belmar said at least one shot was fired from the officer’s gun inside the police car.

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said authorities were still sorting out what happened inside the police car.

It was not clear if Brown was the man who struggled with the officer.

The struggle spilled out into the street, where Brown was shot multiple times. Belmar said the exact number of shots wasn’t known, but “it was more than just a couple.”

He also said all shell casings found at the scene matched the officer’s gun. Police are still investigating why the officer shot Brown, who police have confirmed was unarmed.

Jackson said the second person has not been arrested or charged and was expected to be interviewed later Sunday. Authorities aren’t sure if that person was unarmed, Jackson said.

McSpadden said she doesn’t understand why police didn’t subdue her son with a club or Taser instead of shooting him, and she said the officer involved should be fired and prosecuted.

“I would like to see him go to jail with the death penalty,” she said Sunday at the site of the shooting, fighting back tears.

The killing drew criticism from some civil-rights leaders, and they referred to the 2012 racially charged shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a Florida neighborhood-watch organizer who was acquitted of murder charges, as well as the New York City man who died from a police chokehold.

“We’re outraged because yet again, a young African-American man has been killed by law enforcement,” said John Gaskin, who serves on both the St. Louis County and national boards of directors for the NAACP.

The Rev. Al Sharpton called the shooting death “very disturbing” and the New York-based civil rights leader said he planned to go to Ferguson to meet with the family today or Tuesday.