Hands Up: Tribute to Ferguson Shooting Victim

The event is free and open to the public but organizers want it to be a peaceful event to honor those victimized by police violence or brutality in San Diego or around the country.

People around the U.S. stood with their hands up Thursday for a moment of silence in honor of a young man whose death in an officer-involved shooting has sparked four days of riots, looting and unrest in Missouri.

Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed Saturday after he and a friend were confronted by a Ferguson police officer.

What led to the gunshots is in dispute. Police say the officer was shoved into his car and there was a struggle.

Brown's friend and two witnesses have said Brown was raising his hands in surrender and that the officer kept firing his weapon.

It is that symbol - of two hands in the air - that the NAACP San Diego branch wanted to see among a people gathered at the City Heights Performance Annex at 4:20 p.m. PT (6:20 p.m. CT).

About 100 people gathered for the one-minute long moment of silence, hanging up signs with faces of people they say have been victims of police violence. They wore red ribbons around their arms with "NMOS14" written on them -- signifying the "national moment of silence." 

Among them were local African Americans who fell personally offended by what's taking place in Missouri.

Most San Diegans who talked with NBC 7, regardless of race, say they disagree with the harsh police tactics being used during protests in Ferguson.

"I don't understand why they're penalizing us," said Derrick Johnson, who is visiting his brother in San Diego. "It's like the cycle's starting over again. I thought the racism is kinda taking a dive, but now it's back up in there."

In the St. Louis suburb, riot gear-clad officers have used tear gas on crowds that were reportedly throwing bottles at them.

"I think it's pretty aggressive, the way law enforcement is reacting with their riot gear," said North Park resident Jill Esterbrooks. "That just shuts it down. It make people feel like they're not having any free speech at all."

The FBI and St. Louis County police are conducting separate investigations.

University of Missouri-St. Louis criminologist David Klinger told the Associated Press that there are no reliable statistics on police-involved shootings in the St. Louis region, but he said police in the U.S. kill at least a few hundred suspects every year.

Klinger, who has led two federally funded studies on police shootings and interviewed about 300 officers involved in those incidents, said police often show tremendous restraint, refraining from shooting suspects who come at them with knives or guns. Sometimes, he said, they simply have no choice but to fire.

Copyright The Associated Press
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