At one point, residents held up their hands, saying, “Don’t shoot me!” as police officers with barking dogs tried to keep order.

Approximately 100 protesters then went to the street outside Ferguson police headquarters and chanted, “No Justice! No Peace!”

McSpadden appeared at the shooting scene sporadically, comforted by friends and neighbors.

“I know they killed my son,” McSpadden was heard telling an acquaintance. “This was wrong and it was cold-hearted.”

Her son, she continued, “doesn’t kill, steal or rob. He doesn’t do any of that.”

Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said his department immediately turned the matter over to the St. Louis County police.

He declined to comment on what had led to the shooting or any other details.

“We are hoping for calm and for people to give us a chance to conduct a thorough investigation,” Jackson said.

County police spokesman Brian Schellman promised a “lengthy investigation.”