St. Louis awaits grand jury's decision on shooting of unarmed black teen

[November 17, 2014]  By Scott Malone
 
 FERGUSON Mo. (Reuters) - Residents of Ferguson, Missouri, faced another day on Monday of waiting for a grand jury to decide if it will bring criminal charges against a white policeman who fatally shot an unarmed black teen in August, sparking weeks of sometimes violent protests.

The grand jury has been meeting in secret for almost three months as it evaluates evidence about the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson, and many in this St. Louis suburb expect another wave of demonstrations if no charges are brought.

Some area schools have told parents that they will dismiss students early when the report comes back and many businesses near the stretch of downtown that saw the worst rioting following Brown's death have boarded up their windows in as a protective move.

Officials have said the grand jury's decision is likely to come in mid- to late November.

A small demonstration was held in St. Louis on Sunday, with a couple of hundred protesters staging a "die in" outside a movie theater and then briefly stopping traffic at a major intersection near Washington University.

One of the protest's organizers said the march reflected the anger of a community where the population is mostly black that has a predominantly white power structure.

"Growing up black in America, you are an outcast," said Rockit Ali, 22. "You have to worry about getting shot. You have to worry about getting killed."

Video and audio published over the weekend by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch showed Wilson leaving the police station and returning to it hours after the shooting.

There are conflicting accounts of what happened during the Oct. 9 shooting, with some witnesses saying that Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot and others describing a physical altercation between Brown and Wilson.

Protest organizers are planning to demonstrate at the Ferguson Police Department when the grand jury's decision comes back, and later to protest at the county court in Clayton, Missouri, where the grand jury is sitting.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

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