|
 Tyrone Harris, 18, was shot by police and is in critical
condition. He has been charged with four counts of assault on law
enforcement, five counts of armed criminal action, and one count of
shooting at a vehicle. Bond for Harris, who is black, was set at
$250,000.
The incident occurred on Sunday in the St. Louis suburb where
largely peaceful demonstrations over police shootings of unarmed
black men have been punctuated by violence.
The 13-second video taken from a surveillance camera at an insurance
agency shows a group of people milling about during Sunday night's
protests marking the one-year anniversary of the fatal shooting of
unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer.
During the video, shots are fired and a young man can be seen
brandishing what looks like a pistol.
St. Louis County Police said: "The video shows Harris grab a handgun
out of his waistband once shots are fired during the protest in the
West Florissant corridor."
 Harris's father said his son did not have a gun.
"He was running for his ... life because someone was shooting at
him," Tyrone Harris, Sr. said in a telephone interview from his St.
Louis-area home before the video was released.
According to St. Louis city court records, the younger Harris was
free on bail awaiting trial on charges of stealing a motor vehicle,
theft of a firearm and resisting arrest.
LIGHTER POLICE PRESENCE
A state of emergency that was declared on Monday for the Ferguson
area was still in effect on Tuesday. Protesters have been marching
and staging acts of civil disobedience to mark the anniversary of
the death of Brown, 18.
His death was one in a series of police killings of unarmed black
men in U.S. cities including New York, Baltimore, North Charleston,
South Carolina and Cincinnati that renewed the debate on race and
justice and led to the "Black Lives Matter" movement.
In Los Angeles on Tuesday, a group of protesters from the "Black
Lives Matter" movement disrupted a police commission meeting on the
one-year anniversary of the shooting death of unarmed black man
Ezell Ford, who was killed during a struggle with a police officer.
After darkness fell, a line of riot-gear clad police rushed toward a
few dozen demonstrators who had briefly blocked a street that has
been the site of frequent protests since Brown's death. Officers
pushed the crowd back onto the sidewalk.
"I don't condone violence, but I don't condemn it either. Some of
these kids are just fed up," said St. Louis resident Micheal
Torrence, 33.
Torrence and several other demonstrators in the area said they were
not swayed by the police video that appears to show Harris with a
gun.
[to top of second column] |
Torrence said the fact that the officers involved were dressed in
plainclothes colored his impressions of the incident: "It makes a
difference. He may have been shooting at a different group and
didn't know they were police."
Brian Fletcher, a former mayor of Ferguson now on the city council,
said he believed that violence the city has experienced over the
past year was coming to an end.
"If this is the worst that's going to happen, then we'll survive,"
said Fletcher, standing in the "I Love Ferguson" store he opened in
October to raise money for city businesses and institutions that
were damaged in riots last year.
Sunday night's violence included a drive-by shooting and several
instances of rocks and bottles being hurled at police.
Rallies over the past few days have been mostly peaceful, but late
on Monday police carrying shields rushed a crowd of protesters
prompting many to scream and run. Protesters who were arrested were
suspected of throwing frozen water bottles and rocks at police and
other offenses, according to the St. Louis County Police Department.
Adding to the tension, four white men carrying military-style rifles
and sidearms, who said they are part of a group called "Oath
Keepers," patrolled Ferguson's streets.
The group describes itself as an association of current and former
U.S. soldiers and police who aim to protect the U.S. Constitution.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit civil rights
organization, has described the "Oath Keepers" as a "fiercely
anti-government, militaristic group."
The St. Louis County police chief condemned their appearance in
Ferguson.
(Additional reporting by Lucas Jackson in Ferguson, Mary Wisniewski
and Fiona Ortiz in Chicago, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, and Dana
Feldman in Los Angeles; Writing by Jon Herskovitz and Eric M.
Johnson; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Ken Wills)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
