Michael Brown shooting: National Guard activated ahead of grand jury decision

Missouri's governor declared a state of emergency Monday and activated the National Guard state militia ahead of a grand jury decision about whether a white police officer will be charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.

Nixon said the National Guard would assist police in case the grand jury's decision leads to a resurgence of the civil unrest that occurred in the days immediately after the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.

"All people in the St. Louis region deserve to feel safe in their communities and to make their voices heard without fear of violence or intimidation," Nixon said in a written statement.

• Read Keith Boag on the shooting and the response — by police, prosecutors and protesters

There is no specific date for a grand jury decision to be revealed, and Nixon gave no indication that an announcement is imminent. But St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch has said that he expects the grand jury to reach a decision in mid-to-late November.

The grand jury is considering whether there is enough evidence to charge Wilson with a crime and, if so, what the charge should be. If the jury issues an indictment, a separate jury will be selected to decide whether the person is guilty.

The U.S. Justice Department, which is conducting a separate investigation, has not said when its work will be completed.

Before the shooting, Wilson spotted Brown and a friend walking in the middle of a street and told them to stop, but they did not. According to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report based on sources the newspaper did not identify, Wilson has told authorities he then realized Brown matched the description of a suspect in a theft minutes earlier at a convenience store. Wilson backed up his police vehicle and some sort of confrontation occurred before Brown was fatally shot. He was unarmed and some witnesses have said he had his hands up when he was killed.

• Michael Brown shooting: How lessons from other cities may help Ferguson heal

• Michael Brown shooting: Long legal process angers Ferguson residents

Brown's shooting stirred long-simmering racial tensions in the St. Louis suburb, where two-thirds of the residents are black but the police force is almost entirely white. Rioting and looting a day after the shooting led police to respond to subsequent protests with a heavily armoured presence that was widely criticized for continuing to escalate tensions. At times, protesters lobbed rocks and Molotov cocktails at police, who fired tear gas, smoke canisters and rubber bullets in an attempt to disperse crowds.

Nixon also declared a state of emergency in August and put the Missouri State Highway Patrol in charge of a unified local police command. Eventually, Nixon activated the National Guard to provide security around the command centre.

This time, Nixon said the St. Louis County Police Department would be in charge of security in Ferguson and would work with the Highway Patrol and St. Louis city police as part of a unified command to "protect civil rights and ensure public safety" in other jurisdictions.

The governor did not indicate how many National Guard troops would be mobilized, instead leaving it to the state adjutant general to determine. Nixon said the National Guard would be available to carry out any requests made through the Highway Patrol to "protect life and property" and support local authorities. If the guard is able to provide security at police and fire stations, then more police officers may be freed up to patrol the community, Nixon said.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said Monday that he supports Nixon's decision to activate the guard. He said the guard "will be used in a secondary role" and could potentially be stationed at places such as shopping centres and government buildings.

Protests at courthouse

Earlier Monday, several dozen demonstrators took to the streets in Clayton, Mo., where the grand jury was sitting.

"We want an indictment. The cops don't like it," the group chanted on a day when the temperature was well below freezing as they marched outside the Clayton County courthouse where the grand jury is sitting.

"Something about the way Mike Brown was killed started a fire in me that I can't ignore," said one of the demonstration's organizers, Dhorbua Shakur, 24.

He said he had little sympathy for area residents who are tired of the demonstrations, which left some businesses in Ferguson burned out.

"They can turn this off and on with a TV screen. But this is my reality. This is my life," Shakur said.

Some area schools have told parents they will dismiss students early when the decision comes, and many businesses near the stretch of downtown that saw the worst rioting after Brown's killing have boarded up their windows.

Protest organizers planned to demonstrate at the Ferguson Police Department when the grand jury's decision comes back, and later at the county courthouse in Clayton.

Adolphus Pruitt, of the NAACP in St. Louis, told CBC’s Diana Swain that the protesters and organizations like his are committed for the "long haul" in an effort to seek change.

He said continued dialogue between protesters and police would be important in days ahead, as some protest was expected no matter what the grand jury decides.  

"Putting this back in a bottle is not something that’s going to happen any time soon," he said.