Tyrone Harris appears in a video released by Missouri police while brandishing a gun before he was shot and badly wounded by officers during Sunday’s protests in Ferguson.
Police said the short clip from a security camera showed the teenager grabbing a gun from his waistband.
Tyrone Harris’s father has said his son was unarmed and was running away from police when he was shot on August 9.
Tyrone Harris, 18 was fired on during protests in Ferguson to mark a year since the killing of another black teenager, Michael Brown.
According to police, a gunfight erupted between two rival groups in West Florissant Avenue and a suspect, identified as Tyrone Harris, then shot at plain-clothes police officers, who returned fire.
“The video shows Harris grab a handgun out of his waistband once shots are fired during the protest in the West Florissant corridor,” St Louis’s police department said.
Tyrone Harris’s father said, before the video was released, that his son had been unarmed and was “running for his life”.
Prosecutors have filed 10 charges against Tyrone Harris, including assaulting an officer.
A state of emergency was declared on August 10 as protests continued to mark the anniversary of the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson.
Protesters staged a sit-in outside the main courthouse in St Louis and gathered along a major highway as part of a day of civil disobedience called by activists.
Police in riot gear forced people off the streets on Monday night. They said 23 people were reportedly detained, but “there were no shots fired, no smoke or tear gas used”.
The state of emergency was still in effect on August 11 but no major protests were reported.
Michael Brown, 18, was shot dead in August 2014 by a white police officer who was later cleared of any wrongdoing by a grand jury and the DoJ.
Michael Brown’s death triggered a wave of protests over alleged racism and the use of excessive force by police officers.
Tyrone Harris, who was shot by Ferguson police during events marking the first anniversary of the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, has been charged with assaulting officers, prosecutors say.
Tyrone Harris, 18, was critically wounded in a gun battle with police on August 9.
The authorities have declared a state of emergency in Ferguson, Missouri.
Michael Brown’s death triggered a wave of demonstrations over the use of excessive police force by officers.
The 18-year-old was shot in August 2014 by white police officer Darren Wilson, who was later cleared of any wrongdoing by a grand jury and the DoJ.
On August 10, some 50 people were shown on local news networks being arrested after blocking the main courthouse in St Louis, including civil rights activist Cornel West.
Rallies were due to take place in parts of St Louis and other major US cities as part of a day of civil disobedience called by activists.
Hundreds of people stood silent on August 9 for four-and-a-half minutes at the spot where Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, representing the number of hours that his body lay in the street unattended.
However, the day of peaceful and somber commemorations turned violent late at night when, according to police, a gunfight erupted between two rival groups on West Florissant Avenue.
Police say Tyrone Harris was armed and opened fired, but his father has described their account of events as “a bunch of lies”.
Prosecutors filed 10 counts of charges against him, including assaulting an officer.
Police said Tyrone Harris was among six people who fired at an unmarked SUV with plainclothes detectives inside, who then fired back.
Tyrone Harris’ father told the AP news agency that his son, a close friend of Michael Brown, was shot between eight and 12 times as he was running away.
The gunmen “were criminals; they weren’t protesters,” he said, adding that the officers were not wearing body cameras – a major concern cited by protest groups.
Four police officers have been placed on administrative leave.
Photos from the scene showed a young black man lying bloodied on the ground. He was face down and handcuffed.
Announcing a state of emergency on August 10, the authorities in St Louis county placed police chief Jon Belmar in charge of Ferguson and the surrounding areas.
US attorney Loretta Lynch denounced the incident on Sunday, saying “not only does violence obscure any message of peaceful protest, it places the community, as well as the officers who seek to protect it, in harm’s way”.
It also drew criticism from protest groups, including the Ferguson Action Council and Organization for Black Struggle which described the police response as “excessive”.
John Gaskin III, a member of US rights group NAACP, told AP he did not expect unrest to escalate in Ferguson in the same way it has over the past year.
However, he warned, not many people would believe the police officers’ account of Sunday night’s events as “there’s still a tremendous level of distrust between law enforcement and the community”.
There have been a number of high-profile shootings of unarmed black men in US cities in recent months.
The most recent case involved 19-year-old Christian Taylor who was shot dead by a white police officer after he was spotted on surveillance footage vandalizing cars in Arlington, Texas, on August 7.
A man, who was later named as Tyrone Harris, was shot by Ferguson police at the protest to mark the first anniversary of the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
Ferguson police said the man had opened fire on them and now is in a “critical, unstable” condition and due to have surgery.
Police also said he was armed with a stolen gun and they had been tracking him. Four officers have been placed on administrative leave.
Photos from the scene showed a young black man lying bloodied on the ground.
He was face down and handcuffed. In a video posted on Twitter, a man can be heard urging the police to “please, get him some help”, as the injured man lies still.
The wounded man’s name and age have not been released by police.
Photo Reuters
The St Louis Post-Dispatch identified him as 18-year-old Tyrone Harris, having spoken to his father, the paper said.
The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson by white police officer Darren Wilson in August 2014 sparked demonstrations across the US.
It fuelled a national protest movement against racial bias by police officers.
Shots were heard at about 23:15 local time on August 9 as a large crowd gathered on West Florissant Avenue, at the end of a sombre, peaceful day of commemorations.
St Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters that after “an exchange of gunfire between two groups” the suspect, believed by police to be armed, left and encountered officers in an unmarked SUV.
The suspect fired on the vehicle, Jon Belmar said, and the plainclothes detectives returned fire from inside the van.
There was then a further exchange of fire after the officers left the vehicle.
The officers were not wearing body cameras, he added.
President Barack Obama announced a federal program to help pay for lapel-mounted cameras for US police to record their interactions in the wake of the nationwide protests on perceived policing injustices.
In the early hours of the morning, police used loudspeakers to urge people still gathered at the scene to disperse, saying “this is no longer a peaceful protest”.
Before this incident, hundreds of people stood silent for four-and-a-half minutes at the spot where Michael Brown was killed, representing the number of hours that his body lay in the street unattended.
Two police officers have been shot in Ferguson, Missouri, where unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was killed in August 2014.
One officer was shot in the face and one in the shoulder, St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar said.
Both suffered “very serious gunshot injuries” but were conscious, he said.
The officers were shot following the resignation of Ferguson’s police chief, Thomas Jackson, after a federal report alleged widespread racial bias in his department.
Protesters had gathered outside Ferguson police headquarters on March 11, in what was initially a relatively low-key demonstration.
Photo St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Shortly after midnight at least three shots were fired as the crowd of protesters was starting to break up, Jon Belmar said.
He said he was assuming that “these shots were directed exactly at my police officers”, rather than the officers being hit by stray bullets.
One protester, Keith Rose, said he saw an officer “covered in blood”, and that other officers were carrying and dragging him, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.
Police were keeping protesters in the area in order to take witness statements, Jon Belmar said.
Demonstrators were calling for further action to be taken over the federal report, and for more resignations in the police department, Keith Rose said.
Police chief Thomas Jackson was the sixth Ferguson official to be fired or step down. He had initially resisted calls from protesters and some state leaders to resign.
Ferguson’s police department was widely criticized after the shooting of Michael Brown in August and the weeks of demonstrations that followed.
In November, a St Louis County grand jury and the US Justice Department found that Officer Darren Wilson did not break any laws when he shot Brown.
However, Michael Brown’s shooting and the riots that followed spurred a federal investigation, which found overwhelming racial bias in the town’s policing practices.
US Attorney General Eric Holder has said the federal government will “use all power that we have to change the situation”.
That could include dissolving the police force and turning over law enforcement responsibilities to neighboring agencies.
Police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, are now wearing body cameras after weeks of unrest over Michael Brown’s killing.
Michael Brown, 18, was shot multiple times by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson on August 9, sparking nearly three weeks of angry protests in the St. Louis suburb and drawing global attention to race relations in the US.
Law enforcement and witnesses gave differing accounts of what transpired before Michael Brown was shot, with police saying the teen had struggled with the officer. Witnesses say Michael Brown held up his hands and was surrendering when he was shot multiple times in the head and chest.
The discrepancy has revived calls for officers across the county to be outfitted with body cameras to help capture an accurate record of police-involved incidents.
Police officers in Ferguson are now wearing body cameras after weeks of unrest over Michael Brown’s killing (photo AP)
The policy has the support of scores of law enforcement agencies and the American Civil Liberties Union. Opponents say the cameras could be an invasion of privacy and deter people from approaching police with a tip.
During protests on Saturday, Ferguson officers began wearing small body cameras clipped to their uniforms that recorded crowds, conversations and even some taunts by demonstrators, a police official said on Sunday.
Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the cameras have been well received by officers.
The cameras were donated by two video surveillance companies, Safety Visions and Digital Ally. In a statement on its website, Safety Vision said it donated the cameras in the hopes that they could bring transparency to future investigations.
“The city of Ferguson has gone through an unfortunate series of events and Safety Vision body cameras and flashlight DVR will assist in capturing prima facie evidence for investigations involving vandalism, looting, and shots fired,” the statement said.
Some stores were looted in nightly protests, and police responded with riot gear and moved in military equipment to try to quell the turmoil.
A St. Louis County grand jury has begun hearing evidence about Michael Brown’s killing and the US Justice Department has opened its own investigation.
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