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| Grand jury reaches decision in case of Ferguson officer | Grand jury reaches decision in case of Ferguson officer |
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| ST. LOUIS — A grand jury has reached a decision on whether to indict Darren Wilson, the white Ferguson, Mo., police officer whose fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager sparked days of turbulent protests, sources close to the process said. | |
| Sources said that news conferences are being prepared by the county prosecutor’s office and the Missouri governor. The news conferences will likely come later Monday, but it is uncertain whether either will be used to announce the grand jury’s decision. | |
| The sources gave no indication of whether Wilson, 28, will face state charges in the August shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, which triggered a frank conversation about race and police interaction with African Americans. | |
| [Timeline of events after the death of Michael Brown.] | |
| The grand jury’s decision is the latest turn in a case marked in the national consciousness by the stunning images of clashes between protesters and police wearing riot gear and deploying tear gas in the days after Brown’s death. Details of the grand jury’s deliberations have leaked out in recent weeks, angering the Brown family and protesters who saw it as a signal that no charges would be filed. | |
| Although a parallel federal civil rights investigation of the shooting is continuing, federal investigators have all but concluded that they do not have a case against Wilson, law enforcement officials have said. Federal investigators are also conducting a broader probe of the Ferguson Police Department. | |
| If Wilson is not charged, government officials are bracing for protests in the St. Louis area and nationwide. They have discussed emergency plans in the event of a violent reaction, while protest and community leaders have mapped out their response in hopes of avoiding the unrest that exploded after Brown was killed. | |
| In an interview with ABC News that aired Sunday, President Obama called for calm. | |
| “Well, I think, first and foremost, keep protests peaceful,” he said. “You know, this is a country that allows everybody to express their views, allows them to peacefully assemble to protest actions that they think are unjust. But using any event as an excuse for violence is contrary to rule of law and contrary to who we are.” | |
| Wilson has been on paid leave since the shooting, and Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said Thursday that the officer was unlikely to return to work regardless of the grand jury’s decision. That reversed an earlier declaration that the officer would be welcomed back if not indicted. | |
| Since Brown’s death, Wilson has not been seen in public, and few details about his life have emerged. His representatives had no immediate comment on the news of the grand jury’s decision. The officer reportedly testified before the grand jury and spoke with federal and local investigators. | |
| Wilson shot Brown during a confrontation on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, blocks from the apartment of the teenager’s grandmother. The panel of grand jurors convened in mid-August, days after the shooting, and spent weeks considering the case. | |
| Impatience and pressure for a decision have been building among residents and business owners, as well as police officers, who have been working 12-hour shifts with all leave time canceled since Saturday, said Jeff Roorda, business manager for the City of St. Louis Police Officer’s Association. That schedule will continue through the aftermath of the grand jury decision. | |
| “We have staffed up for civil disobedience, and now the guys are just waiting for an announcement,” Roorda said. “I imagine it’s just as tough on the Brown family and their supporters. The waiting is not easy on anybody.” | |
| The St. Louis Police Department is projecting it will spend three times the amount of money budgeted for overtime this fiscal year ending in July, according to Roorda. Since the shooting, the city has paid out $1 million in overtime pay, officials said. | |
| “We just can’t get through this until we get to it,” Roorda said. “There’s a certain psychological toll that battle-readiness takes on a person.” | |
| At some businesses on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, sales have been down as much as 40 percent since the killing of Brown, because people have been nervous about shopping in the neighborhood, said Sonny Dayan, owner of a cellphone store called STL Cordless. | |
| “We’re waiting for the verdict to come out, whatever it will be — we just want to move on,” Dayan said Saturday. | |
| The grand jury’s decision comes amid growing tensions in recent days between state and federal authorities, with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. privately expressing his displeasure over the way Missouri handled the run-up to the grand jury’s decision. | |
| Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard, which prompted a top Holder aide to call the governor’s office and indicate that the move may have escalated tensions, officials said. | |
| Larimer reported from Washington. Jerry Markon in Washington and Chico Harlan and David Montgomery in St. Louis contributed to this report. |