Riots rock suburb in US after police shoot black teen

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.

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said officers were focused on dispersing the crowd, which was smaller than the night before, but were making arrests and reported being fired on at some locations.

“They are shooting at us now,” Mr Jackson said, adding that officers from 10 to 15 jurisdictions were assisting Ferguson.

Michael Brown, 18, was shot to death in Ferguson, a mostly black St Louis suburb, on Saturday afternoon after what police said was a struggle with a gun in a police car. The FBI has opened a probe into the racially charged case.

Brown’s family has hired Benjamin Crump, the attorney who represented the family of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who was shot to death by a community watch volunteer in 2012.

Police in riot gear fired tear gas to disperse a crowd estimated in the hundreds gathered near a building that burned during Sunday night’s rioting.

Fire trucks, ambulances and more officers converged on the area in a chaotic scene. One officer in riot gear stood behind a squad car in a stand-off with a group of young demonstrators.

Emergency services said they had responded to reports of a stabbing and a shooting, but had not confirmed such incidents and emergency workers were told later to pull back from the area.

A witness in the case told local media that Mr Brown had raised his arms to police to show he was unarmed before being killed.

“He just graduated and was on his way to college,” said Mr Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, speaking through tears at a news conference.

She said her first-born son’s first day back at school would have been Monday. “We can’t even celebrate,” she said.

The FBI opened a federal inquiry into the case.

The US Department of Justice said the probe was intended to supplement the main investigation by St. Louis County police.

It was not immediately clear why Mr Brown was in the police car.

At least one shot was fired during the struggle, and then the officer fired more shots before leaving the car, police said.

The officer, who was not identified, is a six-year veteran and has been put on administrative leave.