A grand jury in Missouri reached a decision Monday afternoon on whether to indict Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson in August. Authorities planned to reveal it within hours.
A spokesman for Bob McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecutor, confirmed that a decision had been reached. It was set to be announced at 9 p.m. ET.
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the Brown family, also said that the family had been notified. He told MSNBC that the relatives were “praying for an indictment, and they’re trying to put their faith in the justice system.”
Gov. Jay Nixon planned to meet Monday afternoon with religious leaders, members of the clergy said. He also planned an appearance with the mayor of St. Louis to call for peace.
The grand jury has been weighing evidence for three months. It was given a range of criminal charges to consider, from first-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter, and also had the option of not indicting the officer.
Wilson, 28, shot Brown, 18, during a confrontation on the afternoon of Aug. 9. In the days that followed, Ferguson, a once-obscure St. Louis suburb, was rocked by clashes between demonstrators and police with military-style equipment.
Ahead of the grand jury decision, the governor declared a state of emergency and activated the Missouri National Guard. Authorities and lawyers for the Brown family encouraged both police and protesters to maintain calm. Nixon planned to be in St. Louis on Monday, a spokesman said.
As they have awaited a decision, businesses have boarded their windows, and some schools have canceled class early for the Thanksgiving break. Authorities, including local police, have set up layers of plans. Scattered protests have taken place in Ferguson in recent days.
St. Louis County police put out a call for donations, including water, cough drops and gift cards to pay for meals, for police working around the clock.
QuikTrip closed four locations in and around Ferguson before the grand jury announcement, a spokesman said. A QuikTrip in Ferguson was burned during the demonstrations in August. A handful of people gathered in front of Ferguson police headquarters.
“We don’t understand why it took so long,” said Rick Canamore, 50, a pharmaceutical worker from Normandy, Missouri, who is black. “If Mike Brown shot Darren Wilson, he’d be in jail by now.”
Sasha Winslow, 48, a flight attendant from Ferguson, who is also black, said she would be unhappy if there was no indictment.
“My stomach is tight,” she said. “I’m anxious, yet fearful, yet hopeful.”
The grand jury is composed of six white men, three white women, two black women and one black man, selected at random from St. Louis County, which is about 70 percent white. Ferguson, a city of 21,000 people, is about two-thirds black. It takes nine of 12 votes to indict.
The Justice Department is conducting a separate civil rights investigation, including a review of the overall practices of the Ferguson police.
Wilson has not appeared in public since the shooting.
Rick Brown and Tracy Jarrett contributed to this report.
First published November 24 2014, 11:01 AM
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