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| Protesters hide behind cars after shots were fired Tuesday, Aug. 9,
2016, in Ferguson, Mo., during a demonstration on the second anniversary
of Michael Brown's death. Witnesses told an Associated Press reporter
that a car sped through a group of protesters who were blocking a street
during the demonstration marking two years since the unarmed black
18-year-old's fatal shooting by a white police officer. They said the
car struck a young man so hard that he flew into the air. As the car
drove away, shots were fired, they said |
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FERGUSON,
Mo. (AP) — Gunfire broke out during a demonstration in Ferguson,
Missouri, on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's death, disrupting
what had been a peaceful gathering Tuesday night but apparently
wounding no one.
Witnesses
told an Associated Press reporter that a car sped through a group of
protesters who were blocking a street during the demonstration marking
two years since the unarmed black 18-year-old's fatal shooting by a
white police officer. They said the car struck a young man so hard that
he flew into the air. As the car drove away, shots were fired, they
said.
"A
lady came down and hit a protester — knocked the shoes off his feet,"
said Sharon Cowan, who was at the scene. "Hit him, and he rolled and he
bounced."
The man appeared to be badly injured and was put into a private car to be taken to a hospital, she said.
Heather De Mian, who frequently livestreams protests in the St. Louis area, said she screamed when the man was hit.
"Then when the bullets flew, I started screaming some more," she said.
Police
responded to reports of gunfire but had found no evidence that anyone
had been struck, said Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small, who declined to
speculate about why the shots were fired.
By around 10 p.m., the protesters had disbanded.
Earlier
in the day, a few hundred people gathered for a memorial service and
moment of silence along Canfield Drive at the spot where Brown was
fatally shot by officer Darren Wilson after a confrontation on Aug. 9,
2014.
A
state grand jury declined to press charges against Wilson, and the U.S.
Justice Department later cleared him, concluding that he had acted in
self-defense. He resigned in November 2014.
Brown's
death led to months of sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson. It was
also was a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, which rebukes
police treatment of minorities and has grown following several other
killings of black men and boys by police, such as Tamir Rice in
Cleveland and Philando Castile in Minnesota.
Brown's
father, also named Michael Brown, said in a brief speech during the
memorial service that the anniversary was a sad day for him and his
family, and for the world, too.
"My
son built families up, opened the eyes of the world and let them know
this ain't right," he said. "This color is not a disease. This color is
beautiful. Black is beautiful."
The
2014 shooting also led to a Justice Department investigation that found
patterns of racial bias in Ferguson's police and municipal court
system. The federal agency and the city agreed this year to make
sweeping changes.
This
month, more than 60 organizations affiliated with the Black Lives
Matter movement released a list of six demands and 40 recommendations
for how to achieve policing and criminal justice reforms.
Brandy
Shields, 19, went to school with Brown and remembered him as a kid who
"never got into trouble." Shields comforted a little girl who was crying
at the service.
"It'll get better," Shields told the child. "We have to make it better, but it'll get better."
