FERGUSON (Sputnik) – A St. Louis County Police Department spokesman told reporters several shots were fired near a church that was holding a memorial service for Michael Brown, who was killed by a white police officer on August 9, 2014.
An estimated crowd of over 200 people marched silently from the spot where Brown had been shot last year to the Greater St. Mark Family Church earlier.
The situation on the ground remains calm and police presence is visible.
However, a city spokesperson told Sputnik earlier many law enforcement officials chose to wear civilian clothes this weekend to keep the perception of their presence to the minimum.
August 9 marks the first anniversary of Brown’s death in the Missouri suburb of Ferguson that has come to symbolize police brutality and volatile race relations in the United States.
Brown’s death touched off a series of violent riots in Ferguson that spread across the United States, renewing calls to look into policing and improve strained racial ties in the country.
