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| Ferguson decision: Verdict sparks night of violence | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The St Louis suburb of Ferguson has seen rioting and looting after a jury decision not to bring charges over the killing of Michael Brown. | |
| A local police chief said the violence was "probably much worse than the worst night we ever had in August" after the black teenager was killed. | |
| St Louis county police chief Jon Belmar said he had heard 150 shots fired by crowds. | |
| Mr Brown was shot by a white police officer on 9 August, sparking protests. | |
| Many in the African American community had called for police officer Darren Wilson to be charged with murder. | |
| President Barack Obama joined the teenager's family on Monday in appealing for calm, urging Americans to accept the decision was "the grand jury's to make''. | |
| The BBC's Aleem Maqbool reports seeing more vandalism and looting after the ruling than on any night in August. | |
| 'Out of control' | |
| "I didn't see a lot of peaceful protest out there tonight, and I'm disappointed about that," Mr Belmar said. "Unfortunately this spun out of control. | |
| Most of at least a dozen burned businesses were "total losses", he said, and two police cars had been "basically melted". | |
| "I don't think we were underprepared," he added. "But I'll be honest with you, unless we bring 10,000 policemen in here, I don't think we can prevent folks who really are intent on destroying a community." | |
| Some protesters charged barricades and taunted police. Chants of "murderer" could be heard. | |
| Police responded with smoke and tear gas. | |
| 'Heart and soul' | |
| Explaining the decision, state prosecutor Robert McCulloch said the jury's job had been to separate fact from fiction, and that some witness statements had been contradicted by physical evidence. | |
| "These grand jurors poured their hearts and soul into this process," he said. | |
| Protesters have been chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot" - a reference to statements by some witnesses who said Mr Brown had had his hands up in apparent surrender to the officer when he was shot. | |
| Police say there was a struggle between the teenager and the officer before the shooting. | |
| In his own testimony, Mr Wilson says that before the shooting Mr Brown pushed him back into his car, hit him and briefly grabbed his drawn gun. | |
| The jury was made up of 12 randomly picked citizens - nine white and three black. | |
| At least nine votes were needed in order to issue an indictment. | |
| Mr McCulloch said the biggest challenge for his office was the "24-hour news cycle and an insatiable appetite for something - for anything - to talk about". |