The parents of the black teenager gunned down by police in Ferguson, Missouri, have rejected an apology by the city's top cop, saying he should be sacked and the white officer who shot their son arrested.

Residents of Ferguson were urged to stay home after dark, after days of clashes with police following the shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old.

Police say a black teenager shot dead by an officer was suspected of robbing a store shortly before he was killed.

St Louis police yesterday identified the officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager and released documents alleging the young man had been suspected of stealing a $48.99 box of cigars from a shop in a "strong-arm" robbery shortly before he was killed.

Police fired tear gas after rioting broke out for a second night in Ferguson, Missouri, despite calls for calm from the mother of a black teenager who was shot to death by police at the weekend.

Demonstrators protested in three California cities against the acquittal of George Zimmerman and officials say they broke windows and vandalised cars in Oakland.

A neighbourhood watch guard who killed an unarmed black teenager apologised to the teenager’s family today at a hearing where he sought release from jail ahead of his trial.

The parents of a shot Florida teenager have accused police of leaking information about their son being suspended for marijuana and details about the fight in which he died that portrayed him as the aggressor.

Civil rights leaders in the US have demanded the arrest of a neighbourhood watch helper who went free after shooting dead an unarmed black teenager.