Cops Fire Six Shots into Knife-Wielding Man Near Ferguson; Missouri Orders Troops Out
August 21, 2014
AP - Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday ordered the Missouri National Guard to begin
withdrawing from Ferguson, where nightly scenes of unrest have erupted
since a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black 18-year-old
nearly two weeks ago.
Since the
guard's arrival Monday, flare-ups in the small section of town that had
been the center of nightly unrest have begun to subside. The quietest
night was overnight Wednesday and Thursday, when police arrested only a
handful of people in the protest zone.
"The
last two nights have been really good. I feel we're making progress,"
Nixon told KMOX-AM, noting that a state of emergency remained in effect
in Ferguson.
Demonstrations
began after the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, and authorities have
arrested at least 163 people in the protest area. Data provided Thursday
by St. Louis County showed that while the majority of those arrested
are Missourians, just seven live in Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb. The
vast majority, 128 people, were cited for failure to disperse.
Twenty-one face burglary-related charges.
Meanwhile Thursday, St.
Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch reiterated he has no intentions of
removing himself from the case, and he urged Nixon to once and for all
decide if he will act on calls for McCulloch's ouster.
Some
question McCulloch's ability to be unbiased since his father, mother and
other relatives worked for St. Louis police. His father was killed
while responding to a call involving a black suspect.
Nixon said this week he is
not asking McCulloch to recuse himself. But a McCulloch aide, Ed Magee,
said the governor 'didn't take an actual position one way or the
other."
McCulloch called for a
more definitive decision and said in a statement that Nixon must "end
this distraction" or risk delay in resolution of the investigation.
On Thursday, Nixon told KMOX he had no plans to take the case from McCulloch, noting that "we're all trying to do our jobs."
Federal
authorities have launched an independent investigation into Brown's
death, and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill told The Associated Press that all
of the physical evidence from the case was being flown Thursday from
St. Louis to the FBI forensics lab in Quantico, Virginia. The evidence
includes shell casings and trajectories, blood patterns and clothing,
the Missouri Democrat said.
"The
only thing you have to test the credibility of eye witnesses to a
shooting like this is in fact the physical evidence," McCaskill said.
"I'm hopeful the forensic evidence will be clear and will shed a lot
more light on what the facts were."
McCaskill also announced
that next month she will lead a Senate hearing to look into the
militarization of local police departments after criticism of the law
enforcement response to the protests in Ferguson following Brown's
death.
Missouri State Highway
Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, in charge of securing Ferguson, said just six
people were arrested at protests Wednesday night, compared to 47 the
previous night, providing hope among law enforcement leaders that
tensions may be beginning to ease.
A
grand jury on Wednesday began considering evidence to determine whether
the officer who shot Brown, Darren Wilson, should be charged. Magee
said there was no timeline for the process, but it could take weeks.
Another
fatal police-involved shooting happened this week in St. Louis, about 5
miles from the site where Brown was killed. St. Louis police released
video showing officers killing a knife-wielding man. The video shows the
man saying, "Kill me now" as he moved toward two officers. The officers
fired six shots each, killing 25-year-old Kajieme Powell.
The
St. Louis shooting briefly spurred a gathering of about 150 people who
chanted, "Hands up, don't shoot," a chant that has become common among
protesters in Ferguson.
St.
Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said he wanted to move quickly to make
public as much information as possible. By Wednesday he had provided
media with cellphone video of the shooting, the 911 call, dispatch tapes
and surveillance video from a nearby store.
"I think the lessons learned from Ferguson were so crystal clear," Dotson said.
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