Police clashed with protesters once again Sunday night in Ferguson, Missouri, on the sixth anniversary of Michael Brown’s fatal shooting.
Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old Black man, was shot and killed after Brown allegedly attacked Officer Darren Wilson in the suburb of St. Louis. The shooting ignited weeks of social and racial unrest throughout the nation and served as the galvanizing force for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Various social media postings said Ferguson police clashed with protesters and demonstrators in the streets.
Last week, St. Louis County’s top prosecutor announced he will not charge Wilson, who has since resigned from the department, in Brown’s shooting.
It was nearly six years ago that a grand jury declined to indict Wilson. Civil rights leaders and Brown’s mother had hoped that Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, the county’s first Black prosecutor, would reopen the case after he took office in January 2019.
"My heart breaks" for Brown's parents, Bell said during a news conference. "I know this is not the result they were looking for and that their pain will continue forever."
Describing the announcement as “one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do,” Bell said his office conducted a five-month review of witness statements, forensic reports and other evidence.
“The question for this office was a simple one: Could we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown he committed murder or manslaughter under Missouri law? After an independent and in-depth review of the evidence, we cannot prove that he did,” Bell said.
But, he said, "our investigation does not exonerate Darren Wilson."
Wilson's attorney, Jim Towey, noted that Bell's review followed investigations by Bell's predecessor, a grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice.
"We all had the same conclusion: There was no crime," Towey said.
“I am just hoping that everybody gets to have some closure, particularly the Brown family,” he said.
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