Ferguson pledges outreach efforts after shooting

Ferguson pledges outreach efforts after shooting

FERGUSON, Mo. — Ferguson’s leaders urged residents Tuesday to stay home after dark to “allow peace to settle in” and pledged several actions to reconnect with the predominantly black community in the St. Louis suburb where the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown has sparked nightly clashes between protesters and police.

According to a statement from the city, Ferguson’s mayor, City Council and other employees have been exploring how to increase the number of African-American applicants to the law enforcement academy, develop incentive programs to encourage city residency for police officers and raise funds for cameras that would be attached to patrol car dashboards and officers’ vests.

“We plan to learn from this tragedy, as we further provide for the safety of our residents and businesses and progress our community through reconciliation and healing,” the leaders said in the statement Tuesday.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Brown’s family, said the 18-year-old’s funeral and memorial service would be Monday, though the time and location haven’t been finalized.

The National Guard arrived in Ferguson Monday but kept its distance from the streets during another night of unrest.

Protesters filled the streets after nightfall Monday, and officers trying to enforce tighter restrictions at times used bullhorns to order them to disperse. Police deployed noisemakers and armored vehicles to push demonstrators back. Officers fired tear gas and flash grenades.

Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol, who is in charge of security in Ferguson, said bottles and Molotov cocktails were thrown from the crowd and that some officers had come under heavy gunfire. Police originally said 31 were arrested, but St. Louis County spokeswoman Candace Jarrett on Tuesday said 57 people were booked at the county jail alone, and perhaps more at other jails in the region.

A list of those arrested showed that only four live in Ferguson, though many live in St. Louis and other surrounding communities. Sixteen are from out of state.

Johnson did not have condition updates on those who were shot. Johnson said four officers were injured by rocks or bottles.

Demonstrators no longer faced the neighborhood’s midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew, but police told protesters that they could not assemble in a single spot and had to keep moving. After the streets had been mostly cleared, authorities ordered reporters to leave as well, citing the risk from the reported gunfire.

A large crowd also gathered Tuesday afternoon in nearby St. Louis after officers responding to a report of a store robbery shot and killed a knife-wielding man. Police Chief Sam Dotson said the suspect acted erratically and told responding officers to “shoot me now, kill me now.”

Some members of the crowd shouted “Hands up, don’t shoot,” a phrase that has become a frequent part of protests since Brown’s death on Aug. 9. Like Brown, the 23-year-old suspect killed Tuesday was black.

The Associated Press

The latest clashes in Ferguson came after a day in which a pathologist hired by the Brown family said the unarmed black 18-year-old suffered a bullet wound to his right arm that may indicate his hands were up or his back was turned. But the pathologist said the team that examined Brown cannot be sure yet exactly how the wounds were inflicted until they have more information.

Witnesses have said Brown’s hands were above his head when he was repeatedly shot by an officer.

The independent autopsy determined that Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, the family’s lawyers and hired pathologists said.

The St. Louis County medical examiner’s autopsy found that Brown was shot six to eight times in the head and chest, office administrator Suzanne McCune said Monday. But she declined to comment further, saying the full findings were not expected for about two weeks.

A grand jury could begin hearing evidence Wednesday to determine whether the officer, Darren Wilson, should be charged in Brown’s death, said Ed Magee, spokesman for St. Louis County’s prosecuting attorney.

Wilson was recognized during a Ferguson City Council meeting in February, getting a special recognition for what Police Chief Thomas Jackson said then was his role in responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle, then struggling with the driver and detaining him for arrest until help arrived. Jackson said the suspect was preparing a large quantity of marijuana for sale.

A third autopsy was performed Monday for the Justice Department by one of the military’s most experienced medical examiners, Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Holder was scheduled to travel to Ferguson later this week to meet with FBI and other officials carrying out an independent federal investigation into Brown’s death.

The Justice Department has mounted an unusually swift and aggressive response to Brown’s death, from the independent autopsy to dozens of FBI agents combing Ferguson for witnesses to the shooting.

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Associated Press writers Alan Scher Zagier in Ferguson, Jim Salter in St. Louis and David A. Lieb in Jefferson City contributed to this report.