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FERGUSON, Mo (KMOV.com) – The Ferguson Public Information Officer for the City of Ferguson Police Department has been placed on unpaid leave after referring to the Michael Brown memorial as ‘trash.’ According to the Washington Post, Officer Timothy Zoll, the Ferguson Police Department’s public relations officer said no crime had been reported in connection to the memorial’s destruction early Friday morning. Zoll suggested the department would look at any video of the incident, but did not specify whether the department would investigate after a vehicle allegedly ran over the memorial on Canfield Drive. “I don’t know that a crime has...

BERKELEY, Mo. – A protester who advocated for peaceful demonstrations in Ferguson was charged Saturday with setting fire to a convenience store in a neighboring suburb. A St. Louis County jail official said Joshua Williams, 19, of St. Louis, was being held on $30,000 bond. He is charged with arson, second-degree burglary and stealing less than $500. Williams, who was frequently quoted and photographed protesting Michael Brown's death, is accused of using lighter fluid to set multiple fires inside and outside a QuikTrip in Berkeley....

One of the most frequently quoted and photographed Ferguson protesters was charged Saturday with setting fire to a Berkeley convenience store earlier this week. St. Louis County police arrested Joshua Williams, 19, of St. Louis, on Friday after several local media outlets and store surveillance captured images of him trying to set a pile of wood on fire outside the QuikTrip on North Hanley Road early Wednesday. Williams confessed to setting fires at the store in a videotaped interview, according to court documents.

ISIS has been actively recruiting Ferguson criminals, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. With tweets that say “Hey blacks, ISIS will save you” and references to Malcolm X and slavery, ISIS was reaching out to criminals during the protests and riots after Michael Brown’s death. U.S. Attorney Steve Wigginton told KSDK that the federal government has received “intelligence reports for law enforcement showing actual tweets ISIS was putting out encouraging Americans to join the people who were burning down buildings in Ferguson to engage that kind of conduct across America.” …

Ohio Gov. John Kasich will roll out “responsible” tax plans that protect against revenue gaps. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Arizona’s new Republican governor are delaying big dreams of nixing the income tax as they face budget shortfalls. And Missouri Republicans, once jealous of their neighbor Kansas’ massive cuts, are thankful they trimmed less. Call it the Brownback effect. Story Continued Below . . Republicans once idolized Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as a tax cutting superstar — now he’s a lesson in what not to do. “It’s a cautionary tale on a national scale … Many of us felt that...

One of this morning’s big news stories is the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Antonio Martin by a policeman in Berkeley, Missouri–a place that, the Associated Press tells us helpfully, is “just a few miles from Ferguson.” The Antonio Martin shooting is currently the top story on Google News, and it is being headlined on pretty much every newspaper’s website. But why? What makes this a major news story? The Michael Brown and Eric Garner stories that preceded it, obviously. But what made them worldwide news? Or, to go back in time, what made the Trayvon Martin case a cause célèbre,...

Following the failure of grand juries in Ferguson, New York, Ohio, and Milwaukee to bring charges against police officers in four separate fatal shootings of young black men, federal authorities are exploring whether federal charges could be brought against the cops. The Department of Justice (DOJ), FBI, and the US attorney's office are examining the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and John Crawford III, while the DOJ is reviewing the killing of Dontre Hamilton — all four men were unarmed when they were shot dead by police this year. Theoretically, the officers could face charges under a federal "color...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City group called the “Elves of Christmas Present” led a massive secret conspiracy to surprise a sick child with an extraordinary gift for Christmas. The Kansas City, Mo. Police Department needed help solving a special case, and they called in 15-year-old Tashawn Thompson, who fighting a life-threatening disease, to help them solve it. “I’m going to grow up and be big and strong and be like one of the policemen,” said Thompson. A secret elf showed up at Thompson’s house Wednesday with a note from Kansas City Mayor Sly James. Thompson has always wanted...

Riot Police Protect St. Louis Cathedral from Protesters at Christmas Midnight Mass Posted by Kristinn Taylor on Thursday, December 25, 2014, 12:18 AM Churchgoers in St. Louis Wednesday night were not allowed to celebrate the birth of Jesus without the threat of disruption by supporters of the so-called Black Lives Matter campaign. Photos posted to Twitter show police in riot gear massed in force protecting a church identified as the Cathedral Basilica.

The police officer who shot and killed a man on Tuesday in Berkeley, Missouri, was given a body camera but it was not activated at the time of the shooting, officials said today. The shooting sparked new unrest in a region already reeling following an August police shooting a few miles away in Ferguson. About 200 to 300 protesters gathered at the gas station where Tuesday night's shooting happened. When asked whether he was concerned that the officer's body cam was not activated, Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said he was "not concerned."

Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins believes the evidence is clear. He believes the shooting death of 18-year-old Antonio Martin was justified. He says Martin pointed a weapon at a Berkeley officer before the officer fired three shots. “They’re out here protecting us every day and sometimes it comes to the point where they have to take necessary action,” said Hoskins. “That’s what occurred.”

The girlfriend of Antonio Martin says she hasn’t been able to sleep since a police officer fatally shot her boyfriend, a black male teenager, at a gas station in Berkeley, Missouri on Tuesday. Keanna Brown, 19, revisited the site of the killing on Wednesday, where she expressed her grief in an outcry of mourning. “He didn’t deserve to die,” Brown told The Huffington Post outside the Mobil gas station where Martin was shot. “He was so scared, I’m telling you, he was so scared. He looked at me like ‘Baby, please jump in between and say something to save me.’”

18 year-old Antonio Martin had a criminal record, with charges including three assaults, armed robbery, armed criminal action and multiple uses of weapons… since he was 17. On Tuesday night Antonio Martin drew a gun from his pocket and pointed it at police. He was shot dead by the officer. The attorney for the Berkeley police officer said this bizarre scenario may have been a set-up at the store to kill police. ** Antonio Martin and his companion stole from the store before the shooting. Attorney Brian Millikensays it may have been a set-up. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported: “This...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)After a police officer who was “fearing for his life” shot and killed an 18-year-old who was brandishing a pistol at him on Tuesday evening, protesters reportedly brought bags of rocks, smashed police cars, hurled explosives and bricks at and assaulted police officers on the scene. According to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, “between 200 and 300 protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, and conflicts broke out between officers and protesters” in Berkeley, Missouri, which is two miles from Ferguson. Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins (D) said on Wednesday morning that the police officer probably saved his own live...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Jefferson City Police have made six arrests in what they're calling a drive-by shooting Monday afternoon. Jefferson City Police Captain Doug Shoemaker confirmed to ABC 17 two men were shot at around 2:40 p.m. near School Street and Lafayette Street. The police department arrested Tavion R. Jones, D'Angelo R. Harris, Rasheem M. Wallace-Jackson, all 18, Lashone V. Gates, 19, Antonio R. Carpenter, 17 and a 16-year-old suspect. A department news release on the arrests said all six suspects live in Columbia. The two victims sustained non-life threatening injuries and were taken to Capital Region Hospital. Both...

<p>BERKELEY, MO (KTVI) – The St. Louis County Police Department is investigating a fatal officer involved shooting in Berkeley, Missouri. The shooting occurred just after 11 p.m. Tuesday night at the Mobil gas station located in the 6800 block of North Hanley.</p>

Violent protests broke out early Wednesday between police officers and a vocal crowd of several hundred people who taunted the officers at the scene of the shooting. Two officers were injured, police cars were damaged and fire was set at a QuikTrip store. Four people were arrested. After the police officer arrived at the store, one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer, St. Louis County police spokesman Sgt. Brian Schellman said. The officer fired several shots, fatally wounding the man. The second man fled, and the dead man's handgun has been recovered, according to...

There is some good debate and conversation happening in the wake of the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. But there is also plenty of nonsense. Consider this gem from the New York Times editorial of this morning about police arrests: "there can never be a justification for any lethal assault on an unarmed man." How absurd. In Ferguson, there is evidence that Michael Brown was attempting to wrest the officer's gun away. Should Darren Wilson have waited until Brown was successful before defending himself? Whatever the facts from Staten Island, if a single officer finds himself in a struggle...

Home> U.S. Police Officer Shoots, Kills Teen Near Ferguson, Missouri, Sparking New Unrest Dec 24, 2014, 6:52 AM ET By ABC NEWS via Good Morning America A man was shot and killed by a police officer Tuesday in Berkeley, Missouri, authorities said – sparking new unrest in a region already reeling following an August police shooting a few miles away in Ferguson. The shooting happened at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday at a Mobil gas station, St. Louis County Police public information officer Sgt. Brian Schellman said.

<p>BERKELEY, Mo. (AP) — A suburban St. Louis police officer shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at him at a gas station late Tuesday, police said.</p> <p>A crowd of about 100 people were gathered early Wednesday at the scene in Berkeley, Missouri, a few miles from Ferguson, where a white police officer fatally shot black 18-year-old Michael Brown in August.</p>