Looting reported during vigil for unarmed Missouri teen shot by police

While hundreds of people in Ferguson, Missouri, prayed during a Sunday night vigil held for a teenager shot and killed by a police officer Saturday, others allegedly looted a convenience store and caused damage to several police cars.

Michael Brown, 18, was unarmed when he was shot by the officer, who is now on paid administrative leave. The recent high school graduate was set to begin college classes on Monday.

At around 9 p.m., looting and a fire were reported at a QuikTrip convenience store, and dozens of people wandered onto West Florissant Avenue, blocking traffic. Demonstrators were seen pounding on police vehicles, and CNN says that at least 20 were damaged.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Police were on the scene in riot gear, and several protesters had harsh words. "It could have been one of your kids!" Charles Staton of Ferguson shouted. "Protect and serve. They aren't protecting." The protesters consider Brown's killing emblematic of the tense relationship between black residents and the predominantly white police force, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

"It's like a volcano constantly erupting that never gets resolved," Joan Havis-Fish of Normandy, Missouri, told the Post-Dispatch. "I don't know what it's going to take to change that culture." --Catherine Garcia

UPDATE: Reports say that looting has spread from Ferguson to the city of Dellwood. On Twitter, Antonio French is sharing updates from the scene: