Fire destroys memorial at site where Michael Brown was shot

Residents have rebuilt a memorial at the Ferguson, Missouri, site where a police officer fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown.

The memorial, one of two at the site, was destroyed when a fire broke out before dawn Tuesday on Canfield Drive, the street where Ferguson officer Darren Wilson shot Brown. The blaze angered many people who live near the scene. One man said it was like a grave being desecrated.

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson says the cause is under investigation. He says the first officer to arrive tried to extinguish the blaze but couldn’t. The Fire Department eventually put it out.

Brown’s 9 August death led to unrest in the St Louis suburb. Investigations into the shooting by a state grand jury and the US Department of Justice are ongoing.