But Roehrer said the sound came from some distance behind the small group of protesters, which he estimated at about 40 when the gunfire rang out.
“To put this on the protesters would be totally unfair,” he told CNN.
The protest came hours after Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson became the latest prominent official in the St. Louis suburb to stand down, seven months after Brown was shot and killed. Jackson had been on the job since 2010.
The Justice Department last Wednesday said it lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute officer Wilson on federal civil rights charges over the August 9 death of 18-year-old Brown after an altercation on a quiet residential street.
– Faulted for racial bias –
But it condemned Ferguson’s city hall, police department and municipal court for racial bias in targeting its African-American majority as a means to generate revenue.
Brown’s family has indicated it intends to file a civil lawsuit against Ferguson and Wilson, accusing them of unlawful death.
“Michael Brown’s mother and father are relieved that actions are being taken to address the very disturbing findings in the Department of Justice report,” family lawyer Benjamin Crump told CNN.
Other Ferguson officials to resign have included Ferguson’s municipal court judge, two long-time police commanders — including Wilson’s supervisor — and, on Tuesday, its city manager.
Ferguson’s court clerk was meanwhile fired over emails that smacked of racism.
Still in office is Ferguson Mayor James Knowles. He has promised root-and-branch reforms in the community of 21,000, in which two in three residents are African American.
Wilson, no longer with the overwhelmingly white Ferguson police force, said he shot Brown after the youth — a suspect in a corner-store shoplifting — tried to grab hold of his firearm.
Others insist that Brown had put his hands up in a gesture of surrender when Wilson opened fire.
– No indictment –
A grand jury in November chose not to indict Wilson on murder or manslaughter charges, reigniting protests that sometimes turned violent.
Police departments around the United States have come under intense scrutiny over the deaths of African-Americans — from New York, where Eric Garner died after he was put in a chokehold during a sidewalk arrest, to Madison, Wisconsin where protests continued Wednesday after Friday’s shooting death of an unarmed teenager.
Outgoing federal Attorney General Eric Holder has threatened Ferguson with a lawsuit if it fails to fulfill a set of recommendations to overhaul its law enforcement and municipal court system.
About The Author
