Police won’t name officer in fatal shooting of teen in Ferguson, Mo.

The chief of police here said Tuesday that he had reconsidered his decision to release the name of the police officer involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American teenager and would not do so because of concerns about the officer’s safety.

The Ferguson Police Department had said it would release the officer’s name Tuesday, but then it reversed itself after it said that threats had been made on social media against the officer and the city’s police.

“The value of releasing the name is far outweighed by the risk of harm to the officer and his family,” the police chief, Thomas Jackson, said in announcing a decision that was quickly criticized. The officer has been placed on administrative leave.

The chief’s change of heart came amid another day of protests in the St. Louis suburbs where the teenager, Michael Brown, 18, was shot several times Saturday by an officer as the teen and a friend walked from a convenience store. The circumstances of the shooting remain in dispute. The police say Brown hit the officer and tried to steal his gun; Brown’s family and friends deny that.

The FBI has opened a civil rights inquiry, and the case is being investigated by St. Louis County police.

During a peaceful protest march Tuesday to the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office in Clayton, Mo., the county seat, people chanted “Don’t shoot!” and raised their hands over their heads — the pose they say Brown was in when he was shot.

Also Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration barred aircraft from flying below 3,000 feet over Ferguson. The county Police Department had asked the agency to issue the ban Monday after its helicopters were shot at “a couple of different times,” said a department spokesman.

President Barack Obama called the death of Brown heartbreaking but urged residents to remain calm.

“I know the events of the past few days have prompted strong passions,” the president said in statement Tuesday, “but as details unfold, I urge everyone in Ferguson, Mo., and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding.”

In an interview Tuesday with MSNBC, Dorian Johnson, a friend of Brown’s, gave the following description of the shooting: He said he and Brown had been walking in the street when an officer drove up and told them to get onto the sidewalk. The two stayed in the street after telling the officer that they were close to Johnson’s house. The officer, who had passed them, then backed up, almost hitting them. He then tried to open his door, which hit Brown, and when the door bounced shut, the officer reached out and grabbed Brown.

“Mike was trying to get away from being choked,” Johnson told MSNBC. At that point, he said, the officer pulled a gun and fired, striking Brown. Brown “did not reach for the officer’s weapon at all,” he said.

Johnson said he and Brown began to run. After Brown was shot a second time, Johnson said, he turned with his hands up, the officer fired several more shots and Brown fell.

Investigators have said only that the shooting was preceded by a scuffle between the officer and a man in which the officer’s weapon fired inside a patrol car.

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer representing the Brown family, said Tuesday that Johnson had yet to be called in for questioning and that Johnson wanted to speak only to federal authorities.

“He does not trust the local law enforcement community,” Crump said.

Crump criticized the Ferguson police’s decision not to reveal the name of the officer who killed Brown, saying it only deepened the mistrust among blacks in the city, which is about two-thirds African-American but has a police force that is predominately white.

Jackson said a provision of state law allowed police to withhold an officer’s name if there were concerns about safety.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, at a news conference Tuesday in St. Louis with the Brown family, called for an end to the violence in Ferguson.

“Some of us are making the story about how mad we are,” he said. “To become violent in Michael Brown’s name is to betray the gentle giant that he was.”

Michael Brown Sr., the victim’s father, echoed that sentiment and called for peace. “I need justice for my son,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 12, 2014 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Police won’t name officer in fatal shooting of teen in Ferguson, Mo.."