Saturday 16 August 2014

Family of shot US teen urges calm

The family of the black teenager shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri,
has appealed for calm after police revealed he was a robbery suspect.

CCTV footage appears to show Michael Brown, 18, stealing from a
convenience store and intimidating the owner.

Mr Brown's family said their son was not "perfect" but criticised what
they see as a police attempt to "justify the execution-style murder".

The killing sparked days of angry clashes between police and protestors.

"Stay with us, we don't want to see any violence on the streets.
Please continue to peacefully protest," said Michael Brown's cousin,
Eric Davis.

There were no reports of unrest for a second successive evening on
Friday, as a few hundred people demonstrated quietly at a filling
station. which was looted and burnt last weekend.

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton says a rally, led by Michael Brown's
family is planned for Sunday.

"The family have never said that Mike Brown was perfect," said a
lawyer representing Brown's family.

Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said the officer who shot Brown
did not know that he had allegedly stolen goods from a nearby store.

"The initial contact between the officer and Michael Brown was not
related to the robbery," he said.
Instead, he added, the reason for the stop was that Brown "was walking
down the middle of the street stopping traffic".

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