A US grand jury has decided not to charge a police officer over the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
State prosecutor Robert McCulloch said the jury had exhaustively examined the evidence but Mr Brown's family said they were "profoundly disappointed".
News of the ruling sparked the worst night of rioting yet in Ferguson.
Shots were fired and cars and buildings set alight as police fired tear gas to break up the crow of protesters.
Ferguson decision: A timeline of events
Police officer Darren Wilson shot dead Michael Brown, 18, in the St Louis suburb on 9 August. There followed nights of rioting in Ferguson and protests across America.
President Barack Obama joined the teenager's family on Monday in appealing for calm, urging Americans to accept the decision was "the grand jury's to make''.
The case has stoked racial tensions in the US, where many in the African American community called for Mr Wilson to be charged with murder.
The BBC's Aleem Maqbool reports seeing more vandalism and looting after the ruling than on any night in August.
The jury's decision was announced on Monday. Hundreds of protesters milled around the police department in Ferguson, following the news on radios and mobile phones.
Explaining the decision, Mr McCulloch said the jury's job had been to separate fact from fiction, and
State prosecutor Bob McCulloch: No "probable cause" for indictment
"These grand jurors poured their hearts and soul into this process," he said.
Protesters have been chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot" - a reference to statements by some witnesses who said Mr Brown had had his hands up in apparent surrender to the officer when he was shot.
Police say there was a struggle between the teenager and the officer before the shooting.
In his own testimony, Mr Wilson says that before the shooting Mr Brown pushed him back into his car, hit him and briefly grabbed his drawn gun.
The jury was made up of 12 randomly picked citizens - nine white and three black.
At least nine votes were needed in order to issue an indictment.
Mr McCulloch said the biggest challenge for his office was the "24-hour news cycle and an insatiable appetite for something - for anything - to talk about".
After the announcement, Mr Brown's family issued a statement saying they were "profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions".
Shortly afterwards shots were fired, and protesters were seen vandalising police cars, at least one of which was set on fire. Police responded with smoke and tear gas.
Firefighters tackled a large blaze and heavy black smoke at a retail building, with reports of a pharmacy and a pizza shop also on fire.
Several other buildings were broken into and looted.
The Federal Aviation Authority said it was restricting the path of some flights into St Louis amid the unrest. - BBC
Ok.
ReplyDeleteSuch protest is needed in Nigeria for letting the iyanya bomb blast suspect walk away a free man.
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Stupid African Americans. Instead of them to live like decent human beings they live like animals. They will keep getting shot
ReplyDeleteI hope you get shot too someday. Fool!
DeleteAnd after all the protest, what next..
ReplyDeleteThis is so sad. I can understand how they can go about vandalizing and looting but that is a poor way of expressing your disappointment with the judicial system.
ReplyDeleteObviously they should have known that a 3/4 white jury will definitely bring back a non guilty verdict in d case of a white against black person.
D system has failed us. Both home and abroad.
No where is safe and you should see the tweet one silly white girl made in respect to this incident: that if d blacks don't like the verdict they should go home to Africa. That the whites should never have bought them in the first place.
Am like wtf?!??!
Kepp comments coming
ReplyDeleteThis is unacceptable,an unfair judgement. Let d protest continues. Justice must be served. #Justice4MichealBrown. Ferguson missouri residents mustn't accept this. Enuf of sm white cops killing innocent,unarmed blacks# racism
ReplyDeleteAmerican justice system can be useless were it's necessary to be applied. A young black guy killed police dog & he was sentence to 35years in prison days ago,but they free this young man's killer. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm....see US has turn to naija..ok nau!
ReplyDeleteSad day for the American Justice System!!!
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that violence won't fix violence, being peaceful did nothing and history cannot be made by being silent. #FergusonDecision
Hope it doesn't escalate into something else..
We r watching..
It was heartbreaking. Not even a little time of like 30 years. Racism will everly continue. The white gates black and that's just the bitter truth
ReplyDeleteI wonder why the Police was not charged. R.I.P to the dead.
ReplyDeletea.k.a EDWIN CHINEDU AZUBUKO said...
ReplyDelete.
Lmaoo.... I see some white folks on that line... May his soul R.I.P....
*GLO BRING 3G TO KONTAGORA*
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***CURRENTLY IN JUPITER***
dis world has taught me dat som ppl r mor equal dan d odas...m dissapointed in d justice system..somone is killed n d killer walks free n evn gts marid yle d case was stil on cuz he is white..God is d ultimate judge....#justiceformichealbrown
ReplyDeleteBLOG ANALYSER: America! Oh! America!
ReplyDeleteRIP #MikeBrown/#Travis!!
ReplyDeleteStella D Stella. Tomorrow is my birthday ooo!
I wan give recharge cards to some of my friends and enemies. What should I do? I dey Australia.
these AA need to take several seats back. Between the time Brown was killed and now how many blacks have been killed by their fellow blacks? why are we not hearing of that? Recently some African-American former marines went into a white marine's house and raped his AA wife, killed her and then killed him. Why? because she is black and she married a white man, no one hears of that. But God forbid a white person kills a black person and the whole world should spin. I do not deny there is racism but these people are just annoying. Ignorant idiots.
ReplyDeleteThey just want an avenue to do nonsense. How is the stealing, looting, arson and rioting helping the case? People just chose to forget that the Michael Brown they are championing stole that night. If he was going about being a nice boy and didn't act up with the police will he be dead today? Probably not.
Next please?