The Latest: Police confirm shooting at Ferguson protest

[rangerrebew]

The Latest: Police confirm shooting at Ferguson protest

 
Ferguson, a year later

(Michael B. Thomas / AFP/Getty Images)


A St. Louis County police officers respond after shots were fired during a protest march on August 9, 2015 on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Missouri.
 
By Tribune wire reports
Associated Press
 
August 10, 2015, 2:55 AM |FERGUSON, Mo.




The latest in the events marking a year since the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri (all times local):.

12:00 a.m.

St. Louis County Police say an officer who came under heavy gunfire returned shots amid a protest in Ferguson.

The department confirmed the shooting in a statement on Sunday night, less than an hour after shots rang out as hundreds had gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown. The police department tweeted that at least two unmarked cars were hit by gunfire.

It wasn't immediately clear whether any one was injured in the shooting, but minutes after the shots were heard, an Associated Press photographer saw a man lying face down, covered in blood, behind a boarded-up restaurant. It wasn't immediately clear how badly the man was injured.
 

Later, an AP reporter saw a woman overcome with grief. Friends were consoling her. She screamed: "Why did they do it?" Another woman nearby fainted.

A man nearby said, "They killed my brother."

____

A demonstration along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Missouri, has been disrupted by gunfire.

Shots rang out just after 11:15 p.m. Sunday. It was unclear where the shots came from. It wasn't immediately clear whether anyone was hit.

Protesters who had gathered in the street fled in multiple directions, hiding behind cars and taking cover in buildings.

A police helicopter appeared overhead, shining a spotlight down on the street. Dozens of police cars and an armored vehicle converged on the area.

St. Louis County Police posted on Twitter that multiple shots were fired and asked people to leave the area. A spokesman for the department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sunday marks the one year anniversary of the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson.
 
10:15 p.m.

 
Protesters have been warned to clear the roadway along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Missouri, or face arrest.

Several hundred protesters who had gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown blocked traffic. An officer said through a bullhorn they would be arrested if they did not move.

Someone threw a glass bottle at officers but missed. Others cursed at officers.

For the first time in three nights of protests, some officers were dressed in riot gear, including bullet-proof vests and helmets with shields.

A grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown, but the shooting touched off a national "Black Lives Matter" movement.

MORE OF THE ARTICLE
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-bc-us--ferguson-the-latest-20150809-story.html#page=1

[rangerrebew]

Thugs Will Be Thugs: More Trouble in Ferguson

 

Donn Marten 
August 10, 2015

On Sunday the crowds gathered in Ferguson, Missouri to honor the memory of Michael Brown. It has been one year since the “gentle giant” was sent to his great reward after a thuggish encounter in a local convenience store ended with his XXXL corpse baking for hours in the hot August sun. Brown’s shooting by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson – who has since resigned – triggered national outrage over the dismal state of race relations in Obamastan.

The response to the subsequent violence,riots and looting by overly militarized police also briefly led to a debate over the federal government arming American law enforcement agencies as though they were patrolling overseas war zones but alas, that has now been flushed down the memory hole. The racial unrest that exploded out of Ferguson not only remains but it is now morphing into dangerous new forms, particularly in the case of loony Louis Farrakhan recently openly calling for the killing of white people.

While for the most part the gathering to honor the dearly departed Brown was peaceful for the majority of the day you had to know that it wouldn’t last. As darkness fell the thugs came out as usual. According to a report from Reuters “Peaceful Rallies in Ferguson Give Way to Violence, Gunfire”:


A man was gravely wounded in a gun battle with police in Ferguson, Missouri on Sunday night after a day of peaceful rallies to mark the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white officer one year ago.

Several volleys of gunshots rang out as police in riot gear tried to disperse demonstrators blocking traffic and smashing storefront windows along a street that was a flashpoint of last year’s unrest in the St. Louis suburb after Michael Brown, 18, was slain.

 


Police later said the gunfire began with two groups of agitators apparently shooting at each other. When one gunman ran across a parking lot, four police detectives pulled up in an unmarked vehicle and confronted him.

The suspect opened fire on the police vehicle and was badly wounded in the ensuing foot chase and exchange of gunshots with the four officers, police said.

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, and was undergoing surgery.

Speaking to reporters at a predawn news conference on Monday, Belmar estimated that more than 40 rounds had been unleashed in what he called “a remarkable amount of gunfire.”

“These were criminals, they weren’t protesters,” he said of the shooters. “There is a small group of people out there that are intent on making sure that we don’t have peace that prevails.”

Thugs will always be thugs and once enough malt liquor has been consumed it is inevitable that the guns will come out and innocent people as well as the police will be targeted. With all things considered now that Michael Brown has become a martyr – they treat the guy like he is freaking Martin Luther King Jr. and not the punk that he was – violent hooliganism (especially race based) it is incomprehensible how anyone could have expected that the day would be peaceful. At least it didn’t completely blow up and trigger more looting and property destruction but that could be coming soon.

http://downtrend.com/donn-marten/thugs-will-be-thugs-more-trouble-in-ferguson

[mystery-ak]

http://news.yahoo.com/ferguson-marks-anniversary-notorious-us-police-shooting-102429039.html;_ylt=AwrC1C0yJMhVCy4AvEnQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByOHZyb21tBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--


Tensions flare in Ferguson on police shooting anniversary
AFP By Loic Hofstedt
8 hours ago

Ferguson (United States) (AFP) - Tensions flared in the US city of Ferguson late Sunday as looters targeted at least one store following a day of somber remembrance to mark the anniversary of the police shooting of an unarmed black teen.

A crowd of about 50 people looted a beauty store in the St. Louis suburb and protesters grew confrontational late in the evening. There was no immediate word of any arrests.

Demonstrators had taken to the streets of Ferguson to mark the anniversary of 18-year-old Michael Brown's death in a fateful encounter on August 9, 2014 with officer Darren Wilson.

The shooting -- and a subsequent decision not to indict Wilson -- led to violent unrest and set off nationwide protests and intense scrutiny of heavy-handed police tactics in a series of cases that ended in the deaths of unarmed blacks.

Sunday's day of remembrance had been peaceful until a handful of protesters grew rowdy later in the evening. A crowd of about 300 people had gathered earlier to mark the anniversary, during which they observed four and a half minutes of silence and released two white doves.

The time represented the four and a half hours that Brown's body lay face down in the street before being taken away.

continued

[Fishrrman]

Thugs just gotta thug....