Officials extend Ferguson state of emergency

St. Louis County on Thursday extended a state of emergency in Ferguson, Missouri for 24 hours after protesters recently marked the one year anniversary of the killing of black teenager Michael Brown nby Darren Wilson, a white police officer.

County Executive Steve Stenger extended the state of emergency through at least Friday, according to his spokeswoman, Allison Blood.

The order, which gives county police oversight of security in the city of 21,000 people, was declared following a shooting incident at a protest Sunday night to mark Brown’s death on Aug. 9, 2014.

Protests were rowdy and at times violent Sunday and Monday on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, prompting Stenger to declare the state of emergency that put St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, instead of Ferguson police, in charge of security.

Police shot and critically wounded an 18-year-old black teen named Tyrone Harris after they said he fired at them during Sunday night's protests. Harris' father said Wednesday that he expects his son to survive. 

Protests have calmed down significantly over the past two nights, with much smaller crowds, no arrests and few confrontations.

Meanwhile, activists are continuing their legal push for an independent probe of a prosecutor's handling of grand jury proceedings in Brown's shooting death.

Online court records show that activists are appealing a judge's ruling last month that tossed out their lawsuit seeking a special prosecutor to review St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch's handling of the process. The activists' appeal has been filed with the Missouri Court of Appeals.

Wire services