Violence continued in Ferguson, Mo., late last night and this morning as two men were shot during demonstrations and the police again used tear gas after turmoil over the fatal shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, Politico reports. Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson said “officers came under heavy fire” and that a “tiny minority of lawbreakers” threw bottles and Molotov cocktails at the police, set two fires in the streets and opened fire on officers. He added that “not a single bullet was fired by officers Monday night.” Thirty-one people were arrested, including at least one individual from California and one from New York. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that police used at least three canisters of tear gas against protesters when they refused to leave the parking lot of a QuikTrip.
Johnson also acknowledged that police officers used a SWAT truck and another large vehicle to collect wounded people in the crowd. He said all the people arrested “weren't being peaceful.” “We do not want to lose another life in this community,” a visibly upset Johnson said during the news conference. Yesterday was the first time that state National Guard forces arrived in Ferguson, deployed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon after violence during protests on Sunday. Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to visit Ferguson today. In one of the first reports on Officer Darren Wilson’s side of the story, a caller told a St. Louis radio station that the shooting occurred when Brown charged Wilson at “full speed.”