The streets of Ferguson, Mo. and surrounding areas erupted into chaos and looting Monday night after a grand jury announced that it decided not to indict a white police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager.
Ferguson Asst. Fire Chief Steve Fair told local TV station KSDK that his department fought about 25 structure fires Monday night, as well as responded to a car dealership were 10 cars were burned.
At least 14 Ferguson-area businesses were set on fire over the course of the night. A Little Ceasar’s Pizza, a Walgreens, an auto parts store and a beauty salon were among the businesses set ablaze.
Map of fires set since Ferguson decision – we’re updating damage reports at this link: http://t.co/ogeWoEes0e pic.twitter.com/VDF1xvkent
— KSDK NewsChannel 5 (@ksdknews) November 25, 2014
“What we saw tonight was much worse that what we saw any night in August,” the St. Louis County Police Department said in a Facebook post. Two of the department’s police cars were set on fire.
Bricks thrown at police, 2 police cars burned, gun seized by police. Tonight was disappointing. #FergusonDecision pic.twitter.com/UsYlrWwnem
— St. Louis County PD (@stlcountypd) November 25, 2014
Another cruiser on fire pic.twitter.com/eBPYIBGAYD
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) November 25, 2014
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said that windows of local businesses were smashed across the street from where protesters gathered in that city, according to CNN.
Local TV station KMOX reported that one of its vehicles was also vandalized during coverage of the protests.
Literally our car just got vandalized while we were sitting in it on Shenandoah and Grand. A guy wrote on our news car.
— Allison Blood (@AllisonBlood) November 25, 2014
Glad to see the Hunan Chop Suey is still standing.
While I’m not endorsing this behavior, and and it seems like some of these “protesters” are just opportunistic looters, I as a white dude cannot comment on the black experience in America. I figure 200+ years of oppression can wear a person down.
And that comment puts you into the “most rational” category for this topic over the last 24 hours. And it was even snark.
Maybe those businesses were just hit at random as rioters lashed out in raw anger, but in some riots in black neighborhoods in the past, some businesses had reputations for treating black customers badly. There might be a context here those of us outside the town know nothing about.
Did anyone else get a feeling from the prosecutor’s press conference that he was a candidate? He felt like someone trying to use this to run for higher office. Given the job he has now, I found myself thinking he’s planning to run for state AG.