Memphis police call for calm after murder and black man's troubles



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Police called for calm on Thursday in the tense Memphis neighborhood, where about 35 policemen were injured by a throwing stone crowd after the shooting death of a black man killed by US marshals in the town. a working group on the run.

The elected officials condemned the violence and the police chief pleaded for patience during the shooting investigation. But unanswered questions left many people angry as they bitterly remembered a litany of shootings involving police all over the country.

Shortly after the task force shot and killed 20-year-old Brandon Webber early Wednesday night, people began to gather in the area and their numbers grew as people listened to the scene. live on social media. The Memphis police first wore the street uniform and came back in riot gear as people threw stones and bricks.

Mayor Jim Strickland said about 35 officers had been injured, which greatly worsened the toll. He had stated that six of them needed to be hospitalized.

Officers cordoned off several blocks in the Frayser neighborhood north of the city center and arrested three people. At 11 pm, police used tear gas and most of the crowd dispersed, police chief Michael Rallings said.

Early Thursday morning, officers on horseback patrolled and lines of police cars with flashing blue lights were parked in the street. An ambulance waited on the outside edge and a helicopter flew over.

Webber's home is located in a residential neighborhood in North Memphis, a working class, where a calming calm prevailed on Thursday afternoon. The presence of the police was minimal, with two police cars parked in front of a nearby fire station. No officer in uniform was visible.

About 20 people were standing outside the one floor Webber home, and others gathered nearby. A woman cried loudly and hugged a man crying. A young man asked an Associated Press reporter from across the street to leave the house.

Reverend Andre E. Johnson stood among the protesters when tear gas was released Wednesday night. He said he did not hear any police orders to disperse.

"Suddenly, tear gas came out and, of course, people started to disperse," Johnson said, adding that his eyes and throat were stung by gas.

Johnson said the people were unhappy because they still did not know why the marshals had tried to stop Webber, whom he had described as a beloved member of the community.

"The problem is that they feel that the police, the administration and the city officials do not treat them like humans," Johnson said. "That's what it means: you do not deserve an explanation."

Tennessee Investigative Bureau spokeswoman Keli McAlister said the Regional Task Force on Gulf Coast Fugitives has gone to a Frayser home to search for a suspect with death warrants. He added that the marshals had sighted the man who boarded a vehicle and that he then proceeded several times with the striking of vehicles of the working group before going out with a weapon.

The marshals then opened fire, killing the man. McAlister did not specify how many marshals had been fired or how many times the man had been shot.

The BIT has identified the dead man as being Webber. The authorities did not provide any details on the charges that had motivated the interest of the working group. His criminal record published by the BIT provides for two arrests, in April 2017 and April 2018, on charges of possession of weapons, drug trafficking and driving without a license. The court records show that the 2018 charges were not prosecuted and that the 2017 charges were dismissed.

His father, Sonny Webber, told the Associated Press by telephone that his son was leaving a 2-year-old boy and a toddler with another girl on the way: "He would have had three children. now have a child, that he will not be able to meet. "

The BIT is regularly called to investigate firing involving police in counties around the state. TBI investigators then submit their report to the district attorney, who decides whether to charge the agents involved.

The police chief implored residents to wait for the BIT to complete his investigation and refrain from spreading false information about the killing. "I need everyone to stay calm," Rallings said.

Mayor Strickland is proud of the city's first responders.

"I am impressed by their professionalism and unbelievable restraint because they have been thrown by stones and spitting," the mayor said.

At least two journalists were injured, several police cars were damaged, windows of a fire station were broken and a concrete wall located outside a company was demolished , did he declare.

Senate Speaker Randy McNally said: "Such a law can not and will not be tolerated in the state of Tennessee".

Police firing from the Memphis area over the last four years has caused sporadic demonstrations.

Among them, Darrius Stewart, an unarmed 19-year-old man, was shot and killed during a clash in 2015 with Connor Schilling, a white officer who was trying to arrest him under exceptional warrants. A Shelby County attorney recommended Schilling to be charged with willful homicide, but a grand jury refused to indict him.

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Associated Press reporters Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee and Rebecca Yonker in Louisville, Kentucky, and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to the story.

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