THE GRAND JURY investigating the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, has reached a decision.
The St Louis County prosecutor’s office has informed a lawyer for the family of 18-year-old Michael Brown that the decision would be announced after 5pm this evening (11pm Irish time.)
The panel is not ruling whether Officer Darren Wilson is guilty or not guilty, but rather whether or not he should face criminal charges and a trial.
Jay Nixon, the Governor of the state of Missouri, declared a state of emergency earlier this month, in anticipation of the grand jury decision.
It is feared that a decision not to indict Wilson – who is white – could provoke a violent outbreak of racial tensions in the city, and the suburb of Ferguson, where the shooting took place in August.
President Obama and US Attorney General Eric Holder – who is himself black – both made public appeals for calm last week, along with the victim’s father, Michael Brown Sr.
Thank you for lifting your voices to end racial profiling and police intimidation, but hurting others or destroying property is not the answer.
No matter what the grand jury decides, I don’t want my son’s death to be in vain.
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