FERGUSON, Mo. — Video has surfaced of Michael Brown’s stepfather angrily calling for the city of Ferguson to be burned to the ground following the announcement Monday night that a grand jury had decided not to indict the officer who shot his stepson.
“Burn this [expletive] down!” Louis Head screamed into the crowd of those who encircled him, repeating the statement ten times. According to reports, he asked for a microphone so that he could be heard by the masses.
Head made the declaration moments after Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden began crying and yelling profanities.
“[T]hey think this is a [expletive] joke!” she shouted. “Ya’ll wrong. Anybody out here don’t think so, I don’t give a [expletive].”
“Everybody wants me to be calm,” McSpadden continued. “Do you know how them bullets hit my son?”
“Nobody had to live through what I had to live through,” she screamed. “But y’all want to come with y’all [expletive] [expletive] comments.”
According to reports, over 20 fires had to be put out throughout the night as violence soon erupted on the streets of Ferguson, including at least 12 structural fires. As previously reported, businesses such as Little Caesar’s and an unidentified beauty salon were completely destroyed after being set on fire by the crowds.
“Storage facility and Sam’s Meat Market near W. Florissant and Canfield have been set on fire in Ferguson,” the St. Louis County Police Department Tweeted.
At least two police vehicles were set on fire, and a dumpster was engulfed in flames a few blocks from the Ferguson police station.
Other stores and restaurants, such as McDonalds and Walgreens, saw their windows smashed, and looters ran inside to take what goods they could run off with without being stopped. One liquor store was also broken into, as some grabbed bottles of alcohol and took off down the street. Some posted photographs on Twitter of the rioting, including those who posed for the camera while ransacking area businesses.
On the streets, some protesters taunted police officers, throwing bottles and rocks at them while shouting profanities. Many officers dressed in riot gear, wearing bullet proof vests and holding plastic shields, and some used tear gas and pepper spray in an attempt to control the crowds or force them to disperse. Police reports state that law enforcement used smoke pellets first to deal with the rioters, but turned to tear gas after it did not seem to be effective.
As darkness fell over Ferguson Tuesday night, police officials remained tense over what type of violence could erupt on the second night of protests. NBC News reports that Gov. Jay Nixon ordered over 2,000 members of the National Guard into the city after witnessing the aftermath of the decision.
“Last night, criminals intent on lawlessness and destruction, terrorized this community,” he stated during a news conference. “I am deeply saddened for the people of Ferguson who woke up to see parts of their community in ruins. No one should have to live like this, no one deserves this. We must do better and we will.”
As previously reported, Jesse Lee Peterson, a California pastor, president of the organization BOND (the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny), and leader of the BOND Leadership Academy for youth told Christian News Network as violence broke out Monday night that at the heart of the Brown case was the responsibility of parents to train their children rightly.
“I have said from day one when we saw the video of Michael Brown robbing the convenient store that this is not some innocent little kid tiptoe-ing through the tulips,” he said. “He was not raised properly, and my concern is that if these families don’t get married and by example raise their children in the right way to go, that we’re going to be seeing more of this.”
“If the parents don’t turn back to God, love Him with all their heart, soul and might, get married, and by good example guide their children in the right way to go, it’s never going to get better, because that is the order of God,” Peterson continued. “According to the Scriptures, God advised us to train our children up in the right way to go, and when you do, you don’t have to deal with this stuff when they go out into the world.”
Warning: Profanity
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