Ferguson, Missouri area residents held a town hall meeting with spiritual leaders Tuesday, Missouri’s Governor, law enforcement and political leaders on the day that authorities refused to release the name of the officer who shot and killed unarmed teen Michael Brown.
Ferguson police have refused to release the name of the police officer accused of shooting Michael Brown because of death threats received by the police department.
To become violent in Michael Brown’s name is to betray the gentle giant that he was. Don’t be so angry that you distort the image of who his mother and father told us he was.
— Al Sharpton
Michael Brown, age 18, was shot and killed on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, United States by a police officer. Brown was unarmed African American, who witnesses say was shot once in or near the police car and then multiple times while he was fleeing or while his arms were held up in submission. Police say a weapon discharged during a struggle of the officer’s weapon inside the police car. The shooting death sparked protests and acts of vandalism and destruction of businesses in the St. Louis suburb as well as an FBI investigation into the incident.
Michael Brown graduated from Normandy High School in St. Louis in the spring of 2014, and was scheduled to start classes at Missouri trade college, Vatterott College, on Monday, August 11.
National Action Network leader and TV host Al Sharpton spoke in Ferguson, Mo., on Tuesday urging residents to shun violence following the shooting death of an unarmed black teen by a police officer on Saturday.
Michael Brown was in Ferguson while visiting his grandmother, Desuirea Harris. Ferguson is a suburb of St. Louis where Michael Brown lived.
#MikeBrown's mother: "Police not telling us nothing, cause they have nothing to say." #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/P7QwG3sTru
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) August 10, 2014
The Ferguson police officer that shot Brown is reported to worked for the Ferguson Police Department for six years without any previous disciplinary problems. Ferguson, Missouri has a population of about 21,203.
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