Police Shooting in MO Sparks Angry Protests
— -- Police shot and killed a male at an apartment complex in Ferguson, Mo., today, sparking demonstrations with angry protesters shouting "Kill the police," and a rash of online outrage.
Twitter users claimed that the male was 17 years old and unarmed, but police declined to give out any details of the incident this evening, and a woman identified the victim as her 18-year-old grandson.
Many tweets included photos of the deceased male laying in the street, face down and photos of a man holding a sign, claiming to be the victim's father.
St. Louis County police declined to confirm with ABC News the age of the male or why police shot him.
A woman told The Associated Press the victim was her 18-year-old grandson. Desiree Harris said she saw her grandson walking towards her home as she was driving Saturday afternoon, but after she arrived home minutes later, she heard a commotion and ran outside to see his body on the pavement nearby.
Shortly after the shooting, Ferguson Police requested that the St. Louis County Police Department's Bureau of Criminal Investigations take over the police involved shooting investigations, Brian Schellman of the St. Louis County Police Department told ABC News.
A crowd of a couple hundred people were gathered around the crime scene in Ferguson, a city of about 21,000 residents a few miles north of St. Louis, when St. Louis County investigators arrived, chanting "Kill the police," and other vulgarities, Schellman said.
A total of 80 police units were called to the scene to help with the investigation and calm the crowd down. The crowd was eventually moved away from the area under investigation.
Investigators planned to continue to work through the night and would release the victim's name and age once the next of kin has been notified, Schellman told ABC News.
John Gaskin, a member of the St. Louis County NAACP, told The Associated Press that St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told the organization's officials the person killed was a teenager.
He said the NAACP chapter wants the FBI to handle the investigation into the fatal shooting to ensure a thorough, transparent investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
