A militant group is offering $5,000 for details on the whereabouts of Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot Michael Brown dead.
A grand jury is currently deciding whether Wilson is guilty of any wrongdoing in the shooting. A date for the decision has not been pegged as of yet.
Wilson, 28, has been in hiding on paid leave ever since he shot Brown, 18, on August 9.
Now a militant group that calls itself the RbG Black Rebels says that it’s offering a reward for information that leads them to Wilson, saying that they’re serious.
“We are paying $5k cash for location of Ofc. Darren Wilson. Real $, no joke, no crime we just wana get his photo an ask him a few questions,” it said.
The account insisted that the group did not issue a bounty.
“If we had a ‘Bounty on his Head’ we wld'nt post that. We just wana get photos&statement from Ofc. Wilson,” it said. “He is still a paid city employee.”
“We’re not here to make threats so dnt threaten us. Especially if you’re local n we can find out who/whr u are,” it added.
The group calls itself “the Militant Resistance against this corrupt police state, that includes the national guard.”
It said that it’s been “stocking up” and encouraged Twitter users to tweet the location of any National Guard personnel or police officers that are spotted around the city.
“Countdown to the St. Louis Purge has begun. Gun stores emptying out, ppl are stockpiling water, food & gas. Police mobilizing for war,” it said recently.
“All the Hoods & #RbG Groups around the country are waiting & watching to see how we handle this situation, Trust me we wont let yall down.”
“If any store owner in Ferg/Stl shoots or harms any protesters i promise your store will never open again. This is not a threat its a promise,” it said in another post.
“I don’t promote looting or burning down their store but [expletive] Sam’s market on W. Flo,” it said in yet another post.
See an Associated Press story on the next page and links to related stories below.
Records reveal divide on Ferguson police tactics
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.—Newly released emails, sent to and from Missouri’s top public-safety officials, show that the state police captain placed in charge of security in Ferguson after Michael Brown’s death was both vilified and praised for attempting to replace authorities’ militarized approach with one more sympathetic to protesters.
The emails, obtained by The Associated Press through an open-records request, also show that police tried to find a way to protect members of the clergy who were in the protest crowds, and that some officers objected to an order to take their meal breaks in public.
The messages offer a small window into the inner workings of Missouri law-enforcement agencies as they tried to quell the tensions that arose following the fatal shooting of the black 18-year-old by white police officer Darren Wilson. The records also illustrate one of the many challenges authorities could face if new protests develop — how to walk a fine line between providing public empathy and security.
There is no specific date for a grand jury decision to be announced on whether to charge Wilson. But anticipation has been mounting because St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch has said previously that he expects a decision by mid-to-late November.
As early as Labor Day weekend, police were already discussing the need to develop a well-coordinated plan for a potential surge in protests when the grand jury decision is announced.
Brown, who was unarmed, was shot after some sort of confrontation with Wilson, who had ordered Brown and a friend to quit walking down the center of a street. Wilson has told authorities that he realized after initially encountering Brown that he matched the description of a suspect in a convenience store robbery that occurred just minutes earlier, according to reports in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that cited unnamed sources.
The shooting stirred long-simmering racial tensions in the predominantly black St. Louis suburb where the police force is composed almost entirely of white officers. After a night of riots and looting, police in subsequent days approached protesters in armored vehicles and used tear gas after some demonstrators threw rocks or Molotov cocktails.
Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol, who is black, was put in charge by Gov. Jay Nixon to try to restore calm. He talked and marched with protesters, posed with them for photos and spoke to loud applause at a rally where he apologized to Brown’s family and described his relationship with his own son who wears sagging pants and has tattoos.
Johnson and his supervisors received numerous emails and phone calls complimenting his demeanor from law officers across Missouri and the country.
“Your agency and Captain Johnson are making Troopers all over the country proud,” Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Col. Matt Langer wrote to Missouri State Highway Patrol Col. Ron Replogle.
But other current and retired law enforcement officers sharply criticized the highway patrol, asserting that Johnson’s apology and actions implied Wilson was guilty of a crime without the benefit of a trial.
“The actions of Cpt. Johnson have infuriated me,” retired patrol officer Mike Watson wrote to Replogle. “He has single handedly destroyed the reputation of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.”
The emails show that patrol officers occasionally took personal steps to try to ease tensions or problems.
Johnson, for example, received an email from a woman who lived in the apartment complex near where Brown was shot. She complained that she was having difficulty going back and forth to her job because of protests and police blockades. Johnson told her the problem would be corrected within that week.
One officer, acknowledging he was going outside the chain of command, pleaded in an email to supervisors to tell rank-and-file officers that clergy intermingling among protesters were trying to help and should be treated accordingly. He suggested pastors could wear brightly colored T-shirts with the word “CLERGY” on front and back. Replogle, the highway patrol’s top officer, responded by offering to pay for the shirts himself, if necessary.
At other times, officers appeared to bristle at some of the expectations for interacting with residents.
In late August, a lieutenant for the highway patrol sent an email to officers in the St. Louis region detailing their shifts for patrolling Ferguson, with a requirement “to be seen by the public.”
“When eating meals, troopers must patronize the businesses in the area and not congregate at the Ferguson Police Department,” the lieutenant wrote.
Another officer redistributed the email with a note atop, stating: “The Patrol cannot force you to eat lunch with your own money,” and thanking those who attended a lunch hosted by the wives’ of Ferguson police officers.
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