More than a dozen arrests in 4th night of Ferguson protests

1	Gina Gowey, of Ferguson, Mo., protests on West Florissant Ave., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, on the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown being shot and killed by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson.
2	A member of the St. Louis County Police Department takes cover at a protest in Ferguson, Mo., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015.
3	The one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death in Ferguson began with a march in his honor and ended with a protest that was interrupted by gunfire.
4	People protest on West Florissant Ave., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo., on the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown being shot and killed by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson.
5	St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar gestures during a news conference, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Clayton, Mo.
6	Belmar said a suspect fired on police Sunday during a protest on the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
7	Police returned fire and the man was taken to a hospital, where Belmar said he was in surgery early Monday morning.
8	Family, friends and supporters pause for a moment of silence at a memorial to Michael Brown, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
9	Sunday marks one year since Michael Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.
10	Police stand near a broken cash register in a parking lot after the front windows of a business were broken out along West Florissant Avenue, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
11	Protesters march in the rain, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
12	Members of the St. Louis County Police Department take cover at a protest in Ferguson, Mo., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015.
13	Police stand near a suspect in a parking lot after gunfire during a protest on the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
14	St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said that plainclothes officers had been tracking the man, who they believed was armed, during the protest.
15	Belmar said the man opened fire on police and was struck when the officers returned fire.
16	The man was taken to a hospital, where Belmar said he was in surgery early Monday morning.
17	A police officer questions a person near the site of a shooting in Ferguson, Mo., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015.
18	The gravesite of Michael Brown, bottom left, is marked with a piece of stone with "MB" painted on it inside St. Peter's Cemetery Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Normandy, Mo.
19	Sunday marks one year since Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.
20	Protesters yell at police, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo., before shots were fired near the protest.
21	St. Louis police arrest a protester outside the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in St. Louis.
22	Protesters have been arrested after blocking the entrance to the St. Louis federal courthouse while calling for more aggressive U.S. government response to what they call racist law enforcement practices.
23	Police patrol on Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
24	Ferguson was a community on edge again Monday, a day after a protest marking the anniversary of Michael Brown's death was punctuated with gunshots.
25	An officer gives water to a detained protester after they blocked rush-hour traffic in both directions on Interstate 70 near the Blanchette Bridge in Earth City, Mo., Monday, Aug. 10, 2015.
26	Officers and protesters face off along West Florissant Avenue, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
27	FERGUSON, Mo.
28	Police arrested more than a dozen people in Ferguson on Monday night after protesters blocked traffic during a fourth consecutive night of demonstrations marking the anniversary of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
29	The gathering came about 24 hours after a demonstration along West Florissant Avenue that was interrupted by gunfire and a police shooting that left an 18-year-old critically injured, setting the St. Louis suburb on edge.
30	St. 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.
31	By early Monday evening, hundreds of people had gathered.
32	They marched up and down 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.
33	The protesters chanted, beat drums and carried signs.
34	When some in the group moved into a traffic lane, officers in riot gear forced people out of the street.
35	Some demonstrators threw water bottles and other debris at officers.
36	Belmar told The Associated Press: "They're not going to take the street tonight. That's not going to happen."
37	More than a dozen people were arrested.
38	Ferguson resident Hershel Myers Jr., 46, criticized the police response as aggressive and unnecessary.
39	A 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."
40	By 1 a.m., the crowd and police presence along West Florissant had been begun to diminish.
41	At the protest a day earlier, tensions escalated after several hundred people gathered in the street, ignoring repeated warnings to get to the sidewalk or face arrest.
42	Then, several gunshots suddenly rang out from an area near a strip of stores, including some that had been looted moments earlier.
43	The shots sent protesters and reporters running for cover.
44	Belmar said he believed there were six shooters, including 18-year-old Tyrone Harris Jr., who Belmar said then opened fire on officers.
45	Police had been watching Harris during the protest out of concern that he was armed, the chief said.
46	During 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.
47	The suspect allegedly shot into the windshield of the van.
48	The four officers in the van fired back, then pursued the suspect on foot.
49	The suspect again fired on the officers when he became trapped in a fenced-in area, the chief said, and all four opened fire.
50	Harris was in critical condition after surgery.
51	Prosecutors 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.
52	All 10 are felonies.
53	All four officers in the van, each wearing protective vests, escaped injury.
54	They were not wearing body cameras, Belmar said.
55	Harris' father called the police version of events "a bunch of lies."
56	He 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.
57	Tyrone Harris Sr. told The Associated Press that his son was a close friend of Michael Brown and was in Ferguson on Sunday night to pay respects.
58	The elder Harris said his son got caught up in a dispute among two groups of young people and was "running for his life" after gunfire broke out.
59	"My son was running to the police to ask for help, and he was shot," he said.
60	"It's all a bunch of lies ... They're making my son look like a criminal."
61	Online court records show that Tyrone Harris Jr. was charged in November with stealing a motor vehicle and a gun, as well as resisting arrest by fleeing.
62	A court hearing in that case is scheduled for Aug. 31.
63	Belmar said the suspect who fired on officers had a semi-automatic 9 mm gun that was stolen last year from Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
64	The police chief drew a distinction between the shooters and the protesters.
65	"They were criminals," he said of those involved in gunfire.
66	"They weren't protesters."
67	Gov. Jay Nixon agreed, saying in a statement that such "reprehensible acts must not be allowed to silence the voices of peace and progress."
68	Michael Brown Sr., right, hugs his wife, Cal Brown, at the spot where his son, Michael Brown, was killed one year ago Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
69	St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar speaks during a news conference, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Clayton, Mo.
70	Police form a line across West Florissant Ave. during a protest, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
71	Protesters yell as police form a line across West Florissant Ave., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo., before shots were fired near the protest.
72	A protester yells as police form a line across West Florissant Ave., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo., before shots were fired near the protest.
73	Ferguson Interim Police Chief Andre Anderson, right, tries to calm the crowd after a shooting near a protest in Ferguson, Mo., Monday, Aug. 10, 2015.
74	The one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death in Ferguson began with a march in his honor and ended with a protest that was interrupted by gunfire late Sunday night.
75	Police take cover after gunfire near a protest in Ferguson, Mo., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015.
76	People come to the aid of a distraught woman after gunshots were fired near a protest in Ferguson, Mo., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015.
77	A crowd gathers along West Florissant Avenue, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
78	Crowds chant in the street along West Florissant Avenue, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
79	Police process protesters for arrest after they blocked rush-hour traffic in both directions on Interstate 70 near the Blanchette Bridge in Earth City, Mo., Monday, Aug. 10, 2015.
80	An undetermined number of arrests made.
81	St. Louis County Police arrest people along West Florissant Avenue, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
82	St. Louis County Police make an arrest along West Florissant Avenue, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.
83	St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, left, and Highway Patrol Capt.
84	Ronald Johnson confer, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo.