Michael Brown’s death anniversary turns violent.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Ferguson is a community on edge yet again on Monday, one day after peaceful protests and vigils that marked the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death was marred by gunshots, leading police to critically wound a black 18-year-old accused of opening fire on officers.
Police, protesters and people who live and work in the St. Louis suburb were bracing for what nightfall might bring following more violence along West Florissant Avenue, the same setting that saw massive protests and rioting after Brown was fatally shot last year in a confrontation with a white Ferguson officer, WRAL reported Monday evening.
Monday afternoon, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency.
“In light of last night’s violence and unrest in the city of Ferguson, and the potential for harm to persons and property, I am exercising my authority as county executive to issue a state of emergency effective immediately,” Stenger said in a statement. “The recent acts of violence will not be tolerated in a community that has worked so tirelessly over the last year to rebuild and become stronger.”
Stenger said that he would place the St. Louis County police chief, Jon Belmar, in charge of police emergency management in Ferguson and the surrounding area, a nearby city.
“Just when people were getting comfortable, we are back on edge,” Charles Mayo, 45, of St. Louis, told USA Today. “This sets us back a whole year. It’s like running on a treadmill, getting nowhere fast.”
Also on Monday, the office of Robert P. McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, charged Tyrone Harris Jr., 18, with 10 counts of assaulting law enforcement, shooting at a motor vehicle and armed criminal action as a result of this incident, reported the Washington Post. Harris remained in critical condition at a hospital in the area, according to the St. Louis County Police Department.
However, in a telephone interview with The Post, Tyrone Harris Sr., who identified himself as Harris’s father, said that two girls who were with the younger Harris before he got shot said he didn’t have a gun.
“The situation is messed up,” he said. “My son wasn’t even armed when he was shot.”
Harris told The Post that his son, who went to school with Michael Brown, had been on a date when he went out to a remembrance honoring Brown. He said that he had been told his son was there with friends who got into some kind of an altercation, possibly a fight over a television, and that one of these people began shooting.
Two girls who were there told the elder Harris that his son was “running for his life.”
“This feels like August 2014 all over again,” DeRay McKesson, 30, told USA Today. “It’s a reminder that there is a lot of work to do in terms of ending police violence.”
The Post later reported that McKesson was among those arrested by police for civil disobedience, a group that included prominent leaders of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
#DeadlyForce didn’t end with #MikeBrown but little has been done legislatively to prevent it from happening again. http://t.co/2LgBUAhiko
— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) August 10, 2015
Tensions began to escalate at about 8 p.m. local time. With most of those who came to Ferguson to demonstrate gathered at a rap concert and a panel discussion, groups of young men began breaking into storefronts along West Florissant.
Police consequently cut off traffic to the area and deployed officers in riot gear, a visible police presence that prompted angry locals and some protesters to gather opposite the line of officers.
While protestors and police confronted each other nearby, two groups that were apparently involved in some kind of feud began firing at each other, said Police Chief Belmar disclosed during an early morning press conference. He said between 40 and 50 shots were fired over about 45 seconds.
“They were criminals,” Belmar said of the people who opened fire. “They weren’t protesters.” Police were not clear on why the two groups were fighting, Belmar elaborated.
Before Sunday night’s gunfire, there had been another shooting the previous night at an event related to the anniversary of Brown’s death. Police said they were called to the intersection of West Florissant Avenue and Ferguson Avenue after gunshots were fired; they subsequently found a 22-year-old who was shot in the arm.
The St. Louis County police said on Sunday afternoon that Trevion Hopson, 17, had been charged with unlawful use of a weapon due to that shooting. Police said Hopson went to the anniversary event and fired at “a specific target” before shooting into the fleeing crowd.