4th night of Ferguson protests brings confrontation, arrests

1Officers and protesters face off along West Florissant Avenue, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
2Ferguson was a community on edge again Monday, a day after a protest marking the anniversary of Michael Brown's death was punctuated with gunshots.
3FERGUSON, Mo.
4(AP) - Police arrested nearly two dozen people in Ferguson during a fourth consecutive night of demonstrations marking the anniversary of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
5The gathering that stretched into early Tuesday morning came a day after a protest along West Florissant Avenue that was interrupted by gunfire and a police shooting that left an 18-year-old critically injured.
6The violence set the St. Louis suburb on edge and had protest leaders worried about whether tensions would escalate.
7St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency, which authorized county Police Chief Jon Belmar to take control of police emergency management in and around Ferguson.
8By early Monday evening, hundreds of people had gathered again along West Florissant, the thoroughfare that was the site of massive protests and rioting after Brown was fatally shot last year in a confrontation with a Ferguson police officer.
9The protesters chanted, beat drums and carried signs.
10When some in the group moved into a traffic lane, officers in riot gear forced people out of the street.
11Some demonstrators threw water bottles and other debris at officers.
12Belmar told The Associated Press: "They're not going to take the street tonight. That's not going to happen."
13Ferguson resident Hershel Myers Jr., 46, criticized the police response as aggressive and unnecessary.
14A military veteran, he added, "It's wrong for me to have to go overseas and fight with 'Army' across my chest, but we can't fight on our own street where I live."
15By 1 a.m., the crowd and police presence along West Florissant had been begun to diminish.
16County police spokesman Shawn McGuire said approximately 23 arrests were made, though police were still confirming official totals.
17There were no shots fired and no burglaries, looting or property damage during the protest, McGuire said in a statement.
18No smoke or tear gas was used, and no police or civilians reported injuries, he said.
19Protests also spilled outside of Ferguson earlier Monday.
20Almost 60 people, including scholar and civil rights activist Cornel West, were arrested around midday for blocking the entrance to the federal courthouse in downtown St. Louis.
21Another group later briefly blocked Interstate 70 during the late afternoon rush hour, with an additional 64 arrests, according to McGuire.
22At the protest that began Sunday night, tensions escalated after several hundred people gathered in the street, ignoring repeated warnings to get to the sidewalk or face arrest.
23Then, several gunshots suddenly rang out from an area near a strip of stores, including some that had been looted moments earlier.
24The shots sent protesters and reporters running for cover.
25Belmar said he believed there were six shooters, including 18-year-old Tyrone Harris Jr., who Belmar said then opened fire on officers.
26Police had been watching Harris during the protest out of concern that he was armed, the chief said.
27During the gunfire, Harris crossed the street and apparently spotted plainclothes officers arriving in an unmarked van with distinctive red and blue police lights, Belmar said.
28The suspect allegedly shot into the windshield of the van.
29The four officers in the van fired back, then pursued the suspect on foot.
30The suspect again fired on the officers when he became trapped in a fenced-in area, Belmar said, and all four opened fire.
31Harris was in critical condition after surgery.
32Prosecutors announced 10 charges against him - five counts of armed criminal action, four counts of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and a firearms charge.
33All 10 are felonies.
34All four officers in the van, each wearing protective vests, escaped injury.
35They were not wearing body cameras, Belmar said.
36Harris' father called the police version of events "a bunch of lies."
37He said two girls who were with his son told him he was unarmed and had been drawn into a dispute involving two groups of young people.