Anger erupts after police killing of unarmed teen in St. Louis, Missouri
The police killing of an unarmed 18-year-old youth in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, has sparked mass outrage throughout the city and across the country.
It is the latest in an epidemic of police murders in the US, including at least 18 people killed so far in the month of August. The victim, Michael Brown, was on foot and en route to his grandmother’s house when he was accosted and shot by police. Witnesses say he was first shot while trying to avoid an altercation. When Brown then placed his hands above his head and dropped to his knees, police fired into his head and chest multiple times. Dorion Johnson, a friend of Brown’s, says that the two were walking when a police officer confronted them, telling them to get off the street. After they continued walking, the police officer fired one shot. When they began to run away, “He shot again, and once my friend felt that shot, he turned around and put his hands in the air. He started to get down and the officer still approached with his weapon drawn and fired several more shots.” (See video). Brown’s grandmother, Desuirea Harris, was waiting for her grandson at her home shortly after 2:00 p.m. After hearing noises from the street, she walked to the scene, where she found a stream of blood trailing away from her grandson’s lifeless body, which was left on the street for four hours.
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