Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) on Sunday did not denounce the curfew enforced in Ferguson Saturday night, after one person was shot and seven were arrested during a small protest.
CNN’s “State of the Union” host Candy Crowley asked him if the curfew he imposed was “counterproductive.”
“Last night’s curfew, I think everybody worked well,” Nixon responded. “We’re always disappointed when things aren’t perfect. But thousands of people spoke last night, thousands of people marched and not a single gunshot fired by a member of law enforcement last night.”
The person shot is in critical condition, and police say he was not wounded by a law enforcement officer.
Nixon lamented that the second night with the Missouri Highway Patrol leading the police presence did not go as well as the first. The governor said that he initiated the change in approach after he saw the “militarization of police.”
“That went well until the second night, and we had some agitation,” he said.
He did not say whether he would impose a curfew again Sunday night and that officials and community members would be meeting Sunday morning to assess the situation.