Nine months after Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, Mo., city officials announced that a permanent memorial will be built in the St. Louis suburb as a tribute.
According to the Associated Press, volunteers disassembled the temporary memorial erected at the spot of Brown's death yesterday, which would've been Brown's 19th birthday. The Associated Press adds that both Ferguson Mayor Jay Knowles lll and Brown's father, Michael Brown, Sr., announced that the memorial needed to relocate:
Knowles, while appreciative of the memorial's symbolism, recently said it has become a public safety issue — and Brown's father said the same Wednesday.
Despite anger from local residents about the breaking down of the site, the Associated Press reports that it will move:
But on Wednesday, as the dismantling neared completion, Brown's father walked up, toting the weighty metallic plaque that features an inscription borrowed from a popular memorial prayer and will immortalize his son perhaps as early as Thursday. Brown's father had said the plaque would be placed in the street, but Knowles later told The Associated Press it would be installed on private property near a sidewalk in the general area.
Brown's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Ferguson, also targeting former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson and ex-police chief Tom Jackson.
[via Associated Press]
