Man shot by police in Ferguson was friend of Michael Brown

Aamer Madhani | USA TODAY

The 18-year-old man who was critically injured late Sunday after being shot by police during the latest unrest in Ferguson, Mo., was a friend of Michael Brown.

St. Louis County Police on Monday charged Tyrone Harris Jr. of St. Louis with four counts of assault on law enforcement in the first degree, five counts of armed criminal action and one count of discharging or shooting a firearm at a motor vehicle. Harris, who remains hospitalized and in critical condition, is being held on a $250,000 cash bond.

Harris’ father, Tyrone Harris, told USA TODAY that his son was close friends with Brown, the black teen who was killed one year ago Sunday after a confrontation with a white police officer. On Sunday, activists from around the country marked the death of Brown, whose killing ignited months of protest in Ferguson and also spurred national debate about the treatment of African-Americans by police across the USA.

In a brief conversation on Monday, Harris said that police are offering a false narrative of what went down before they shot his son.

“I’m just being fed a bunch of lies about my son by the police,” Harris said in a telephone interview.

St. Louis County Police say they were assisting Ferguson police around 11:10 p.m. Sunday on West Florissant Avenue when several gunshots were fired by at least two people in the vicinity of the protesters.

Harris was spotted by St. Louis County Police detectives in an unmarked vehicle; the detectives turned on their emergency lights and began driving toward the teen, according to the police account of the incident. Harris then allegedly turned and began firing at the detectives, striking their vehicle several times, according to the account.

Police say the detectives then exited the vehicle and that Harris turned and began firing rounds at the detectives, who fired back at him. Harris then allegedly ran, and the detectives began chasing him, police say.

Police say Harris stopped again, turned and fired at the detectives, then the detectives returned fire, wounding Harris several times. A .9 mm semiautomatic firearm, reported stolen out of Cape Girardeau, Mo., was recovered from the scene, police say.

Harris was taken to a local hospital, where he was listed in critical condition after undergoing surgery.

“There is a small group of people out there who are intent on making sure we don't have peace that prevails,” St. Louis County Police Chief Belmar said. "That's just the bottom line on this and that’s just unfortunate...We can't afford to have this kind of violence

The teenager has a pending court case in the city of St. Louis, where he was charged in November with stealing a motor vehicle, theft of a firearm and resisting arrest, according to court records.

In that incident, police say Harris was detained after they spotted him driving a stolen vehicle erratically. When police officers turned on their squad car’s siren to stop him, they said Harris fled the wrong way down a one-way street, forcing another driver to swerve off the road to avoid being hit.

Police officers deployed spike strips on the road to stop Harris. As a detective approached Harris in the vehicle, he spotted Harris removing a pistol from his waistband and place it between the seat and console. Both the gun and vehicle had been stolen from the same person, according to charging documents.

Activists in Ferguson criticized police, calling the decision to use plainclothes officers in a protest setting a poor decision

“After a year of protest and conversation around police accountability, having plainclothes officers without body cameras and proper identification in the protest setting leaves us with only the officer’s account of the incident, which is clearly problematic,” Kayla Reed, a field organizer with the Organization of Black Struggle, said in a statement.

The eruption of violence came as tensions between police and protesters mounted following a day of peaceful demonstrations to mark the anniversary of Brown’s death.

In a separate incident, Ferguson police reported two male teens — 17- and 19-years-old — were shot about 2:15 a.m. Monday in a drive-by shooting.

They were each wounded once in the chest, according to police, and transported to a local hospital. The injuries weren't life-threatening, police said.