A memorial dedicated to slain teenager Michael Brown
was destroyed by a fire Tuesday morning. The memorial, made mostly of
teddy bears and homemade signs, had been kept on the side of the street
feet from where Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer
Darren Wilson on August 9th. Another memorial, located in the middle of
Canfield Drive at the exact spot where Brown’s slain body laid for four
hours, remains intact.
The cause of the fire is unknown at this point. The
town’s fire department was called to the scene at 6:45 AM local time to
respond to a fire on Canfield Drive. When they arrived, they saw a
somewhat large fire where the memorial had once stood. Resident and
visitors had added to the memorial over the past few weeks. By the time
the fire occurred Tuesday morning, hundreds of stuffed animals, cards,
flowers, signs and balloons had become part of the display.
Below is a picture from weeks ago of the memorial. It had since grown in size.
Residents in the immediate area are suspicious and
feel that the blaze could have been set intentionally. They are also
upset that Ferguson police arrived on the scene before firefighters and
just stood around the memorial and watched it burn. Piaget Crenshaw, one
of the key witnesses to Brown’s shooting who lives on Canfield.
It is very possible that the fire was accidental.
Most evenings, candles were lit and left at both memorials. Reporters on
the scene posted pictures showing the remnants of candles in the
charred remains.
It is totally understandable for area residents to
be overly suspicious of the police at this point. Besides the ongoing
issues that have been well-documented, even before Brown’s shooting,
hundreds of Ferguson residents attended two closed-door meetings with the Department of Justice at
a local cult Monday evening. The meetings were not open to the media
or non-residents and allowed residents to openly discuss their opinions
and grievances with the local police department and government. It is
possible that some residents feel the fire is retribution for the
meetings and the continued civil rights investigation by the DoJ into
the town’s police department. Shortly after the fire was put out Tuesday
morning, people started rebuilding the memorial.
At the same time, residents were gathering evidence at the scene to verify if gasoline was used.
A few hours after the blaze was extinguished, a
large group of protesters was on the scene. Besides rebuilding the
memorial, they were chanting “No justice! No peace” and “we are Mike
Brown!” with their hands in the air.
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