The street memorial for Michael Brown burned down overnight

(Image credit: Twitter)

last updated 8 January 2015

Residents of Ferguson, Missouri, awoke Tuesday morning to a charred reminder of the events that rocked their town last month: The makeshift teddy bear memorial on Canfield Drive, erected on the spot where unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was shot by white police officer Darren Wilson, had been destroyed by a fire overnight.

ABC News reported that one man said the memorial's destruction was "like a grave being desecrated." The remaining ashes were still on the street Tuesday morning.

While police are still investigating the cause of the fire, they believe the small tea candles that had been part of the memorial may have been used to ignite the blaze.