Obama Calls for 'Peace, Calm' after Teen Shooting

As St. Louis demonstrations over the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown entered a fifth day, President Barack Obama called for  "peace and calm."
 
During the day, protests in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson have been peaceful. But at night they've turned violent, with some protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and other objects. Police say two dozen patrol vehicles have been destroyed.
 
Heavily armed police used tear gas and smoke bombs to quell the rioting - a move law enforcement leaders defended Thursday.
 
"In talking to these guys, it is scary," St. Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman said of officers on the front lines of the protest. "They hear gunshots going off, and they don't know where they're coming from."
 
The president, however, viewed the matter differently.
 
While he said there was no excuse for violence against police, he also condemned officers for using "excessive force against peaceful protests."

Watch our report from the Thursday, August 14 edition of Newswatch to hear what the president said; and, to watch CBN's Mark Martin's interview with a St. Louis area pastor about the church's response and ministry amidst the unrest there.

"Put simply, we all need to hold ourselves to a high standard, particularly those of us in positions of authority," Obama said in a statement Thursday from Martha's Vineyard.
 
Protesters say Brown, who was unarmed at the time he was shot, had his hands raised and did nothing wrong.
 
But police say the officer involved in the shooting was assaulted and had to be taken to the hospital for facial injuries after the shooting.
 
"His face was swollen so he'd obviously been hit or punched or something like that," Police Chief Tom Jackson said.
 
Meanwhile, one resident spoke out against the riots, saying they dishonored Brown's memory.
 
"When we see violence and we see protests that turn to violence it frustrates us; it grieves our heart and not only does it grieve our heart but it…denigrates the memory of a young man who died on the streets of Ferguson," he said.
 
The FBI is involved in the investigation of the shooting.