have these same issues that have to be dealt with and we at the justice department are determined to do all that we can to bridge those divides. we launched in september our building communities of trust initiative to provide training to law enforcement and communities on bias reduction and procedural fairness and we plan to apply evidence-based strategies in the five pilot sites around the country. this is all designed to bridge those divides, bridge those gaps between law enforcement and the communities that they serve. these gaps, these divides exist in other parts of the country beyond ferguson and our focus will be national in its scope to try to deal ultimately with these issues. we will continue to advance this work, as i said, around the country in the coming weeks and months by bringing together elected officials, law enforcement officials and community leaders both to ensure dialogue but also action.

this isn't just about talking. we want to ensure that concrete steps are taken to address these underlying barriers to trust. i briefed the president today in the oval office about the situation in ferguson, shared with him the perspectives of people in law enforcement and justice department officials who are there on the ground. we talked about programatic issues that we want to announce relatively soon and about the need to bring our people together. this is a difficult time for people in ferguson. it's a difficult time for people in our country. it's an opportunity to find those things that bind us as a nation to be honest with one another and come up with ways in which we make this union even more perfect. that's what i talked about with

the president. he is committed to this effort as are the men and women of the united states department of justice. thanks very much. >> thank you. >> eric holder speaking moments ago. bracing for trouble following a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer who shot the teenager, michael brown. as the u.s. national guard deploys in force, is it a case of too little, too late? was justice served? the grand jury transcripts proved the process was designed to protect the police officer darren wilson. we're going to breakdown the testimony and darren wilson's side of the story. and inciting a riot despite pleas for calm from other family members, did michael brown's stepfather spur the crowd to violence after the grand jury decision was announced? i'm wolf blitzer.

you're in "the situation room." let's get right to the breaking news. night is about to fall in ferguson, missouri. authorities are bracing for another round of violence after a grand jury's decision not to indict the white police officer darren wilson in the death of african-american teenager michael brown. that sparked a frenzy of burning, looting and destruction. a dozen buildings were torched. dozens of arrests were made. missouri's governor says the national guard will be out in force tonight. >> the violence we saw in the areas of ferguson last night cannot be repeated. there will be more than 2,200 national guardsmen in the region. lives and property must be protected. >> but ferguson's mayor asks, why wasn't that done sooner? brown's family attorney says the grand jury process is broken and, if nothing else, the timing

is being widely criticized. president obama is expected to address the events in ferguson. we're going to hear from the president later this hour. the national urban league president is standing by along with our correspondents, analysts and newsmakers. let's begin with cnn's sara sidner. she's in ferguson and has the very latest. sara? >> wolf, a few moments ago we noticed the national guard that showed up, got prepared and got their orders and riot gear together. they are being put in a line, almost a human blockade, if you will, outside of the municipal court. they've been here for maybe about half an hour or so. that's when we first noticed them. we had residents, wolf, talking to us last night while we were in the streets of west florissant saying where is the national guard? he said that they would be

playing a role behind the scenes unless they were needed. now, clearly they have moved to the forefront. tonight, national guard troops in ferguson and more local police patrolling the streets after the city fell into chaos. as michael brown's family called for peaceful protests, his mother appealed to the crowd. >> i've been here my whole life. i ain't never have to go through anything like this. >> reporter: following this angry outburst from brown's stepfather. across the city, stores did burn. buildings looted, a it into . >> this is probably the worst night that we've ever had than in august. >> reporter: deep anger about both the outcome of the grand jury and the manner in which the investigation was handled. >> i just think it's very sick. very sick. >> reporter: the attorney for the brown family echoing that

outrage. >> a first year law student would have done a better job of examining the killer of a young black child than the prosecutor's office did. >> while we support everybody's lig right to come out and have their voices heard, you'll see a large police presence and you'll see intervention more quickly than last night. >> reporter: and members of the community here are dealing with the fallout. >> we definitely have done something here that's going to impact our community for a long time. >> reporter: there is absolutely plenty of frustration here and the biggest worry now is, will the businesses come back? this community will be hurting economically for sure with all of the burnt out buildings and the jobs that have been lost.

wolf? >> we see the national guard troops behind you. sara, why weren't they deployed in mass numbers? they knew this was coming. >> reporter: right. but the governor himself had said that they were going to be playing a different role, that their role was going to be to protect, for example, the command center and that they wouldn't be in the front, on the front lines. that that would be taken care of by several of the police departments who had come together to form a command, including st. louis county. and they were out in force. and something that someone was talking to me about, what were they going to do differently? a lot of concern about how they would have done things differently, wolf, because as you noticed, there were large vehicles blocking the street over time the police trying to push people back, especially on west florissant, but they are certainly front and center. the police department is stationed here to protect the department itself, wolf. >> they have learned from the blunder of last night. they should have been out there last night.

they weren't. but they will be out there tonight. we'll see what happens. sara, thanks very much. burning, looting, rock throwing, tear gas, don lemon was in the middle of all of it. he's been out on the streets all day and he was at the news conference earlier in the day and don is joining us right now. the family today remains furious about how all of this was handled. i know it's very tense right now. before we get into the family, let's talk about the national guard. you see those guys. there are 2,000 of them ready to patrol the streets. do you have a better answer of why they didn't decide to patrol -- why they didn't give the order last night? >> reporter: wolf, we don't. we got the guidance, all of the media last night from the governor that the national guard would be out and patrolling and also that they would be protecting the ferguson police department and that's where we saw so much chaos last night as we were out here. not exactly sure where they were. a lot of people who were saying

we don't need this over mi militarized look and then last night after all of that unrest people were wondering, oh, my gosh, where is the national guard? so now the national guard, a nt wanted entity and the national guard is here. just a couple of minutes ago -- probably about 20 minutes ago, i think it was three buses of them drove up and about 200 of them got out and now they are guarding the ferguson police department. where they were last night, you know, i don't know. it's our understanding that they were protecting federal buildings and landmarks in the city of st. louis rather than being in ferguson. and we were told that the mayor of ferguson is saying, where is the national guard? my city is burning. i don't see them anywhere. >> you saw all of those businesses, family owned businesses, cleaners, a beauty

salon, you saw all of those burnt out, destroyed, looted. these people are really suffering as a result of that. >> reporter: they are. and your heart can't help but go out to them. we were back here in august and a lot of people lost business because they were just afraid of the possibility of something happening. now something real has happened. instead of being afraid of the possibility, they have lost many of their livelihoods. they don't know how they are going to pay their bills, get their businesses back open and running if they want to do that again. so the message about injustice, about how to fix problems with the police department and the community, about over militarization of the police departments, about profiling, about all of that, about police brutality, that has been overshadowed by people who chose to loot and burn and to put these people out of their livelihoods. it's really sad. and we drove through, wolf, some areas that had not been touched

by violence the last time we were here and as we were driving to the police department or the family press conference, we were surprised to see so many businesses being boarded up, so many businesses with bashed out windows and so many businesses that had been burnt up. it's awful. >> it certainly is. don, thank you. stand by. the ferguson mayor said his city did not get the help it so desperately needed last night. >> unfortunately as the unrest grew and further assistance was needed, the national guard was not deployed in enough time to save all of our businesses. the decision to delay the deployment of the national guard is deeply disappointing. we're asking the governor to deploy all necessary resources to prevent the further destruction of property and preservation of life in the city of ferguson. >> so what's going to happen tonight? and we're bracing for more of what happened last night.

let's bring our justice reporter evan perez. evan, the mayor doesn't sound very pleased with what he heard from the governor. clearly there was a major blunder some place. you were at the news conference that the prosecutor gave last night. the governor simply said it was up to the prosecutor to decide the timing of the release of all of that information. the governor jay nixon walked away from that decision. that was clearly a pretty awful decision to release the information, no indictment, 8:00 p.m. central time, 9:00 p.m. eastern. >> well, what you see is passing the buck. you have the mayor of ferguson whose city was burning saying that he was on the phone trying to get the governor to send the national guard in. he says he hasn't talked to the governor of missouri since august and his city has seen these protests all along. then you have the governor

saying -- blaming the prosecutor for having no communication. what this has exposed is all of these officials who are supposed to be working together and they really are not. they have been fighting, trying to determine, you know, who gets to blame for whatever happens next. they've been trying to oust the police chief of ferguson, as you know, wolf. and you have all of these people who are basically supposed to be trying to make sure that this community is protected and really last night the whole plan they had to get to put together fell apart. >> and the prosecutor in this particular case, robert mck mccullough, he's standing by his decision. what has been the action in the legal secircles and federal circles based on what you're hearing, evan? >> reporter: wolf, the issue is, the best chance of any type of case against officer wilson

really stood with the state. the bar is even higher for the federal government and their civil rights investigation. so one of the things you're seeing happening now, wolf, is that the attorney general and justice department and i think the obama administration, they are trying to send a message, if there's no prosecution of this officer, perhaps what the community can take solace in, there's going to be reform of the ferguson police department and better policing, also, from st. louis county for these communities which really don't feel protected. >> evan, stand by. we're going to come back to you. i know you're working your sources. we see the national guard troops. a couple thousand now ready to be deployed in the coming hours. we're going to see what happens. let's go in depth. joining us, the president and ceo of the national urban league, mayor mark moriel. thanks very much for joining us. you're there in ferguson right

now and you know a lot about what is going on. do you believe justice was served? >> justice was not served and the handling of the grand jury from dumping 50 to 60 witnesses into the grand jury to the prosecutor not offering the recommendation to the grand jury with respect to an indictment to the release of the decision at 9:00 p.m. with a 20-minute rambling speech was deeply flawed. so we're deeply disappointed. however, i'm heartened that attorney general holder has indicated that his own investigation, that the justice department's civil rights investigation will continue on it is own independent track and i would remind everyone that in cases in the past where there's the case in new orleans, the rodney king case, every one of

those cases involved a federal prosecution which was successful after a failed state investigation. so this is important as well as the track that the attorney general outlined with respect to a pattern and practice investigation of the ferguson police department. so this is not over but it was curious that the grand jury process deviated from a standard approach to how a prosecutor confronts a grand jury. >> mayor, stand by. we're only getting started. we have several more questions we want to pose to you. you met michael brown's family. you were at that news conference. we see the deployment now of a couple national guard troops. you see batons and shields. they are about to go out on the streets of ferguson and in the area to try to prevent the disaster that occurred last night. much more on the breaking news right after this.

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take a look at the live pictures from baltimore and atlanta. the demonstrations are just beginning in those cities. other cities around the united states right now, a lot of frustrated, angry people as a result of that grand jury decision. no indictment of the police officer in the death of michael brown. we're back with the president and ceo of the national urban league, marc morial and also joining us is the reverend tracy

king, a member of the ferguson conditions looking behind all of the unrest. and as we're getting ready to speak, we're showing our viewers the national guard troops. 2,000 are about to be deployed to try to prevent what happened last night. and reverend blackman, it seems like there was so much warning, so many weeks and weeks of speculation maybe there wouldn't be an indictment and yet the community, the area around ferguson seemed so unprepared last night. what happened? >> wolf, i believe that the area was unprepared and i lay the full accountability of that at the feet of prosecuting attorney bob mccullough. many, many of us led by clergy, as a matter of fact -- and i know this because i am one -- have been imploring bob mccullough for a while now just to give us a process, to let us know what will be the method

whereby he will disclose the decision of the grand jury. we first began by asking for a special prosecutor. the governor had at one point the ability to do that because he had previously declared a state of emergency. he chose not to do that. and in the system, working with the prosecutor that we have, we implored upon him to just give us a schedule. the benefit of that schedule would have been that we would have been allowed to prepare adequately to challenge the energy that would come from whatever the dewas in fruitful and productive ways because he refused to tell us how he was going to release. what i mean by that is, all we were asking is, tell us. when you have a decision, what will be your process? will we get 48 hours' notice, 24 hours' notice, 12 hours' notice? and this was important, wolf. because it would have allowed us to prepare families to decide

where they wanted their children to be when this announcement was made. it would allow our leaders in the community to try to format some large way of protests or celebration or whatever it was going to be. so that the community would be channelled -- the energy would be channelled in the way that the community could be protected to the best of our ability. in my opinion, prosecuting attorney bob mccullough removed that possibility from us. yes, we knew a decision was coming but we got less than 24 hours' notice. it was too late to do anything than what we could do ahead of time, such as prepare safe spaces and safe sanctiouaries. i blame him for the poor coordination last night. >> he wanted to wait until the schools were out and stores were closed. that was the argument he made last night, although a lot of us thought it was a mistake to

release that information late into the evening, 8:00 p.m. in ferguson, already dark here. >> may i pose a question to you? >> yes. >> may i pose a question to you about that, wolf? >> sure. >> i can go with that argument but schools are out on saturday. schools are out all day. >> i didn't like that -- as soon as we reported at 1:30 p.m. that a decision had been reached, evan perez broke that story and then we were told it's probably not going to be made public until the evening. i immediately went on the air and i said i think that's a mistake. it's going to cause a lot of problems. you don't have to be a genius to know that, by the way. i want to bring in the former mayor of new orleans, ma marc morial, into this conversation. passions were flamed. there was a lost anger out there. listen to what michael brown's stepfather -- what he said last night, he regrets it now, but

clearly he was so angry. listen to this. >> [ bleep ]. >> burn this [ bleep ] down. burn this bitch down. burn this bitch down. >> all right. so you heard those really angry, nasty, bitter words, mayor. you met with the family today, you met with the family's lawyer. i just want to know, does he regret those really awful words? >> well, we -- so it's important, those were the statements of his stepfather. we were today with his father. his father participated in our press event with ben crump who is representing the family and i know those statements were inappropriate. but certainly borne of the

emotion of the moment. so if he backtracked on that, that's good. because i believe that michael brown's father with wh, with wh he lived, made it abundantly clear that the way to remember the memory of michael brown is not to engage in violence or the destruction of property, not to engage in any of those activities. and i think the reverend certainly knows because she's been a part of the effort to organize and prepare people for a peaceful, organized appropriate response to the grave disappointment surrounding the grand jury decision. we've got to continue with this advocacy of justice because of the grand jury federal investigation that is impending and this is just a step along the road. i'm hopeful and let me be perfectly and abundantly and absolutely clear, the urban league, those civil rights organizations who have been

involved, community-based organizations that have been involved out here, disassociate themselves with the violence taking place. that's not part of the plan or the strategy. those are the actions of provocateurs. >> i don't know if the stepfather regrets having said those awful remarks last night. i assume he does but i don't know for sure that he does. we're going to continue to watch what is going on, including the couple thousand national guard troops that are now being readied to be deployed on the streets of ferguson to try to prevent what happened last night. also coming up, the officer darren wilson -- we're going to get his side of the story. we'll examine his grand jury testimony. also, the very brief fatal encounter he had with michael brown. brown's family attorney says the grand jury transcripts prove the process was designed to protect

the police officer darren wilson. our legal experts are standing by to break it all down. you're watching "the situation room." cocoa or eggnog?

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standing by to hear from the president of the united states. we're told that the president will begin his remarks shortly by addressing the very awful situation that's developed in ferguson, missouri. he spoke out last night at the white house trying to appeal for calm across the country. certainly his words were not

necessarily heat necessarily heeded in the ferguson area where we saw looting and a lot of violence develop. the president will make a strong appeal for calm tonight. the national guard troops are now getting ready and will be deployed on the streets of ferguson. we're also standing by live now for another news conference from what is called the unified command. members of the police, the local state authorities are going to brief us on how they are getting ready for another ugly night in ferguson. you're looking at live pictures from ferguson right now. how are they going to deal with the potential violence that once again could erupt and everyone is nervous that what happened last night could be repeated. we hope that doesn't happen but it could be repeated tonight. the president of the united states and unified command presence, you'll see live coverage in "the situation room." meanwhile, dozens of people testified but the police officer, darren wilson's testimony, was clearly crucial to the grand jury's decision not

to indict him. our brian todd has been pouring over the information from the prosecutor. brian, give us your analysis. >> tonight, we have new details on wilson's claims to the grand jury about how he felt in different moments that his life was in danger. it also brings out how the fateful encounter played out in a matter of seconds. he didn't have a taser, had never fired his gun on duty before but in what he says was less than a minute, his confrontation with michael brown would leave brown dead on the street. in his grand jury testimony, officer darren wilson says the incident began when he heard a radio call about a theft in progress. he claims when he drove to the area he saw michael brown and dorian johnson walking down the middle of the street. he said walk on the sidewalk. michael brown replied f what you

have to say. he twice tried to open his squad car door and twice he says brown slammed it shut. then -- >> several witnesses described seeing an altercation in the car between officer brown and officer wilson. it was described as tussling, wrestling, a tug-of-war or just some movement. >> reporter: wilson describes it as brown hitting him several times, landing at least two blows to his face. wilson says i felt like a 5-year-old holding on to hulk hogan. wilson did not think he could grab his stick or mace in time. wilson draws his gun, tells brown to get back or he'll shoot. quote, he immediately grabs my gun and says, you're too much of an expletive to shoot me. he had the gun pointed at his hip. after a struggle, wilson fires his gun twice inside the car. brown, he says, takes off

running. wilson gives chase. wilson says brown stops and turns. and when he looked at me, he made like a grunting. in a crucial part of the testimony, wilson says brown's left hand goes into a fist and goes to his side. quote, his right one goes under his shirt in his waistband and starts running at me. but grand jury witness sees it differently. >> what i saw was his hands go up and whatever, whoever other witnesses would like to say his hands were down by his side or even perpendicular, his hands were still visible in a manner you could tell he was unarmed. you could tell he was unarmed. >> unarmed? >> unarmed. >> reporter: wilson says he fires a total of 12 shots, two inside the car, ten at brown outside. he says in those last seconds, when brown is 8 to 10 feet away from him, quote, all i see is his head and that's what i shout. i saw the last one go into him and then when it went into him, the demeanor on his face went

blank. when he fell, he fell on his face. he died 150 feet away from the squad car. some people claiming to be eyewitnesss who first said michael brown was shot in the back later changed their stories when the autopsies revealed that brown had not sustained any wounds to the back of his body. wolf? >> brian, stand by. i want to go to ferguson right now. this is ron johnson speaking out on getting ready for potentially another night of violence in ferguson. >> that was not fair to this community or this nation and we'll make sure that does not happen or repeat itself. like the chief talked about, we have to make sure that this stops. the law of averages. we don't want anyone hurt or injured. as you know, i've been led by faith throughout this. and last night i said that the voice of the clergy was not being followed. it wasn't that that voice wasn't attempted to be spoken.

the crowd was not listening. we have to listen to the voice of reason and a voice of our faith and those things that drive us to be better. we will continue to make this community safe, the property is safe and the rights and freedom that we have are maintained. so we'll open ourselves up to any questions that you might have for myself or the chief. >> have you had a chance to adequately assess where the missteps or miscalculations that were made last night? >> i would say we're always assessing and i'll say that we'll make sure to ensure that we have a better night tonight than we did last night. but i can tell you, the men and women of law enforcement did an outstanding job last night and showed a lot of character. every day is a new day and we adjust our operational plans. >> can you tell us why the national guard was not deployed last night? there were 700 last night.

2,200 are going to be out there tonight. that's still a significant number and the promise of being out there was to protect property. >> and they were out there. i think the governor talked earlier. more than 700 guardsmen out and we had them in those places that we thought were appropriate. but last night the rioters and those stuck on violence did some things to our community that we all couldn't have woke up this morning imagining. >> chief, is this homicide relating to the rioting? >> at this point, i certainly couldn't discount that. i would imagine there's some sort of a nexus there. i can't comment regarding cause of death or manner of death. i don't know those things. i think somebody just talked about the word mistakes from last night. i think like captain johnson said, i'm not sure they were mistakes. these officers worked tremendously hard under a very difficult situation to exercise

a lot of restraint and tried to keep everybody safe. again, i'd like to underscore the fact that there are certain folks out there and it's a small fraction but if there are folks out there that want to cause problems, it is very difficult to impact that at times. >> chief, what do you think about the decision to bring in more national guard soldiers? >> i welcome it. i really do. i think it's going to cause us to use some of our police officer assets, guys that wear badge jets, do the jobs that they need to do and i think it will free up our law enforcement assets to be able to react a little more effectively to different dynamics. again, we have a situation in august, remember, that we were, what, seven, eight, nine blocks and last night we saw this over perhaps four square miles. there is a more of a challenge when this happens. >> [ inaudible ]. as an excuse to take property

and damage property. >> yeah. you know, it is frustrating because i feel like certain individuals are taking advantage of not only the business owners, for example, but they are taking advantage of the community and, in many ways, of mr. brown's life and legacy. i mean, this almost has to turn into something good. otherwise, an 18-year-old lost his life for nothing and i think it cheapens it when we look at the criminal activity that spun out of this. >> a lot of our residents called us this morning. i've talked to a lot of them and they woke up in tear this is morning. they woke up and they were heartbroken. so we've hurt this community in ways that it's going to take a long time to heal. >> gentlemen, can you talk a little bit about deployment of the national guard? i'm not trying to get any tactical information but in st. louis they were deploying guards in small pockets in a number of different areas to protect looting and i'm wondering if

you've laid out a plan for use of the guard and, also, to whom does the guard listen? who are they taking orders from and who is giving orders? >> we're not going to talk from an operational approach about how we will use the guard but they will be used as a resource. major johnson is working with the guard members and deployment of those. we'll ask for those resources and he'll communicate with the guard. >> do they fall under unified command's control or national command or control? >> they will fall under unified command once they report. >> chief belmar -- [ inaudible ]. >> i think if you saw both of us here last night, if you did not see the pain in our faces, the pain in our voices, you know that we did not let that happen.

the law enforcement officers stood out there last night and saw the disagreement and despair in their voices and face. no, we did not let that happen. this is a community i live in. this is a community that the chief grew up in. no, we did not let that happen. we're going to do everything we can tonight to make sure that doesn't continue. >> we have three more questions. >> [ inaudible ]. >> listen, we had information and we've seen in the past that the ferguson police station has really been a target. it's been the new ground zero in a lot of ways. we could anticipate pretty easily that we're going to have some issues there. and i think it's very difficult, then, to take a guess on where else we might have problems, for example. so i was a little bit surprised with the issues on west florissant road. we had a plan for that. but part of what we're talking about here, we talk about, did

we let things happen? certainly not. but please keep in mind that at certain times, there's not a lot we can do about any given thing other than try to maintain. >> that was part of the problem, not predicting that ground zero would be -- >> we've had problems there and since on florissant road. we did predict that. at the same time, it's a lot more difficult to manage here on west florissant based on the lay of the land. i appreciate your question but i assure you these guys were doing the very best that they possibly could. one more question? >> can you address the fire response? was there any time or any window during last night when fire trucks were ordered not to go in there because of gunfire and what was that window? >> right. what happened is when they were down at the public storage lot, they were fighting that fire but they had to back off because of gunfire at that point. and i would imagine that that

really wasn't a command, these things just kind of occur, they pull out. and then the commanders on the ground here on west florissant, they realized they couldn't maintain for fire service to come in for a period of time and then they were finally able to move to the north and get the fire service in here. >> is that standard protocol, that before firefighters are able to -- >> right. that is standard protocol. typically the fire service won't come in to any of our scenes until it's 100% secure. so those are things that are challenges of ours. we're polishing and cleaning this up every bit of the way but, again, we're looking forward to hopefully a peaceful night. thank you. >> i think we should all say that the firemen showed great brave bravery last night going into those areas that there was gunfire. >> that was captain ron johnson and jon belmar trying to

explain -- they are arguing they did as good of a job as they could last night but clearly it was not a very good job based on the results that we saw. jeffrey toobin, quickly, give me your reaction to what we just heard? >> i think those people are in denial. it's just astonishing that the chief could sit there and say, i didn't think mistakes were made. that was a success? looters running wild, setting fires to cars, hardly anyone arrested? that's a success? i mean, it is just astonishing to me that even in the face of such a systemic failure they could think that this was anything but a disaster. and you have the governor of missouri, jay nixon, who was apparently in the witness protection program, invisible and not taking responsibility for his state on fire. it's just amazing to me. >> yeah. it's pretty amazing. stand by, jeffrey. we're going to have full analysis of what's going on.

will those looters, those who started fires, those who stole from stores, will they be charged? will they be prosecuted? there's a lot of videotape. will the police go after them or forget about it? stand by. night now falling in ferguson, missouri, will the area face a new round of violence? authorities are out in force. they clearly are bracing for trouble. you're looking at live pictures of the national guard troops. they are leaving their command center and heading to the streets. they are fully prepared. look at the shields. look at the masks. they are ready. we are hoping it's quiet. cocoa or eggnog?

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jeffrey toobin, and tom fuentes, a former fbi assistant director. what did you think of what we just heard from the st. louis county police chief from ron johnson, the captain from the missouri highway patrol saying, you know, basically saying they did a great job last night. although we saw the ends result. >> i completely agree with jeff toobin. that was ridiculous. they lost the streets. and they're fighting a handsful or a couple handfuls of hoodlums that showed up and let them loot, burn businesses, ruin people's lively hoods and make it sound like nothing happened. to me what happened was they were so severely criticized in august. they looked mean. they were in riot gear. they caused the right on the riot because they looked ferocious. now they tried to be kinder and

gentler and they have a riot because they don't prevent it. >> do you think they'll go after these looters, these arsonists? there's a lot of video time. we see people going into that liquor store, running out carrying boxes of stolen beer, whiskey, whatever they're carrying. are they going after these people and prosecute them? >> reporter: i think that's doubtful. i think it will be difficult to identify people, track people down. and i don't think that's where their efforts are best spent at this point. and i have got to agree with tom and jeff. i was here last night at what is the sort of command center for law enforcement. this sort of uniform command center. and it was only until very late into the evening, after everything had erupted that right behind me, we started seeing convoys of vehicles, police vehicles, humvees, armored cars coming in and out. so it just seems they were ill prepared for what happened. and it seems so shocking because

we know that it was announced around noon that the grand jury reached the decision. and then you know, law enforcement had about eight hours before the announcement was heard by the public. and i think it was really just negligent for the announcement to have taken eight hours. and to be announced in the evening. anyone in law enforcement with any kind of law enforcement background knows that it is very difficult to control crowds in the dark. so just all around, it was a fail. >> jeffrey, what was shocking to me is that the governor of missouri, jay nixon, when he was asked, who picked the time for the release of the grand jury decision. he said the pros kufrlt he walk away from it. i have nothing to do with it. that sounds ridiculous to me. >> perhaps the most fateful decision of his entire governorship. that's what jay nixon will be

remembered for. how his state erupted into riots on his watch and his response is, some local prosecutor made the decision. he is supposed to be the governor of the state. he is invisible. he is apparently incompetent. and the result is for everyone to see. and by the way, those poor cops who were forced to deal with it. it is because of incompetence of their leadership. it is those comes' lives in danger. they're the ones outnumbered by these criminals and hoodlums. if they had just been arrested at the start, the cops would have been in a lot less danger. so i certainly don't blame the comes. they're the victims of the incompetence at the top of law enforcement in missouri. >> very quickly. >> i had to stand in front of the nazis who were protesting in the '70s when i was a street cop. and jeffrey is right. those cops are in danger.

the leadership to protect them and put enough people out there to protect the community, protect the protesters and frequent police. >> that was in skokie, illinois? >> no. they never did march in skokie. it was in chicago. >> we'll have all of you stand by. coming up, as night falls in ferguson, there are more fears and more violence following a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer. stand by for more breaking news. k is still missing. so my buddy here is going to help me find it. here we go. woo who, woah, woah, woah. it's out there somewhere spreading the word about americas favorite potatoes: heart healthy idaho potatoes and the american heart association's go red for women campaign. if you see it i hope you'll let us know. always look for the grown in idaho seal.

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breaking news. night of protests. there's growing fear of a new wave of violence as night falls on ferguson, missouri. more than 100 demonstrations are planned in cities across the united states. keep the peace. shocking video, inciting an already agitated crowd. words were the tipping point that sparked the violence. i'll talk to one of the brown family attorneys. that's coming up this hour.

critical testimony. we have new details about the officer darren wilson told the grand jury about his deadly encounter with michael brown. were his words what led the panel to their decision? we want to welcome our viewers from the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situation room. >> we're following the breaking news. in missouri, officials there bracing for a second night of violent protests over a grand jury decision. not to indict ferguson police officer darren wilson in the shooting death of michael brown. the missouri governor, jay nixon says more than 2,000 national guard troops are being deployed to prevent the clashes, the looting, the arson that ravaged parts of ferguson overnight. brown's father appealed for calm. the teen's stepfather, after comforting brown's grief stricken mother, apparently

instigated some of the violence. [ yelling ] >> there are more than 100 protests planned across the united states tonight but law enforcement officials are vowing there will not be a repeat of the violence in ferguson. we're covering the breaking news with our correspondents and our guests. they are in key locations including one of the attorneys for michael brown's family. darrell parks is standing by live. let's begin our breaking news coverage this hour with don lemon. he is on the ground for us in ferguson. don, we're all worried about what is going on. we saw what happened last night. to you, to our other reporters, producers, photographers, to so many people there. what are you seeing right now? >> reporter: absolutely. everyone thought they had this all mouhamed out. they had it all figured out. now we're seeing they're adding more enforcement here.

everyone thought they had figured it out. how they might react. whatever it might be. an indictment, nonindictment. officials thought they had it, people thought they had it. as we have learned when it comes the ferguson, nothing goes off as planned. tonight ferguson is a city at war with itself that police and protesters vowing to return to the streets, scarred by fires and looting. while community and faith leaders call for the chaos to become calm. >> we are all in this together. we are all on the same side. >> reporter: missouri's governor says national guard troops will step up the prenls. already on scene at the ferguson police department hopefully avoiding more of these scenes. but there is a palpable sense that the fueled fires have only intensified as angry business owners vision burned out shells of their stores. last night, in a press conference, attorney general

eric holder weighs in. >> it is clear that acts of violence threaten to drown out those who have legitimate voices. legitimate demonstrators. and those acts of violence cannot and will not be condoned. >> reporter: today as attorneys for michael brown's parents repeated calls for restraint, they found themselves answering for a lack of it in this video. showing brown's stem father overnight shouting angrily to a crowd, seeming to suggest they stoke the fire. the outburst came after an emotional plea from brown's mother. >> the family's attorney condemned comments while chastising. >> raw emotion, not appropriate at all. completely inappropriate. and you know, god forbid your child is killed the way they killed and then they get that devastating announcement. and somebody put a camera in your face.

what would be your immediate reaction? >> meantime for the first time since the august shooting, darren wilson is speaking publicly, telling abc news he was just doing his job and feared for his life. the city's mayor says the 28-year-old policeman remains on administrative leave as the city he once patrolled braces for another night of protest. >> people didn't know what daybreak would bring. now they're not sure what nightfall would bring. >> we want to hear from the president of the united states. he is in chicago in his home town. we're told he might thank a few of the local folks. there he has a whole separate speech there about immigration but he will begin his remarks with a statement on what's going on in ferguson, missouri. that's where you are. but let's stand by. i don't want to hear all the thanks the president is about to make. all these guests there. but let's talk for a moment while the president thanks some of the local dignitaries are

there. the national guard, you see them getting ready to be deployed. >> they are getting ready to be deployed. >> hold on. i think the president just started. >> -- missouri, our neighbor to the south but all across america. as many of you know, a verdict came down, or a grand jury made a decision yesterday that upset a lot of people. and as i said last night, the frustrations we've seen are not just about a particular incident. they have deep roots in many communities of color who have a sense that our laws are not always being enforced uniformly or fairly. that may not be true everywhere and it is certainly not true for the vast majority of law

enforcement officials but that's the impression folks have and it is not just made up. it is rooted in realities that have existed in this country for a long time. now, as i said last night, there are productive ways of responding and expressing those frustrations and there are destructive ways of responding. burning buildings, torching cars, destroying property, putting people at risk. that's destructive and there's no excuse for it. those are criminal acts. people should be prosecuted if they engage in criminal acts. but what we also saw, although it didn't get as much attention in the media was people gathering in overwhelmingly peaceful protests here in chicago and new york and los

angeles, other cities. we've seen young people who are organizing and people beginning to have real conversations about how do we change the situation so that there's more trust between law enforcement and some of these communities. and those are necessary conversations to have. we're here to talk about immigration. but part of what makes america this remarkable place is being american doesn't mean you have to look a certain way or have a certain last name or come from a certain place. it has to do with a commitment to ideals. a belief in certain values. and if any part of american community doesn't feel welcomed, or treated fairly, that's something that puts all of us at risk. and we all have to be concerned

about it. so my message to those people who are constructively moving forward, trying to organize, mobilize and ask hard, important questions about how we improve the situation, i want all those folks to know their president will work with them. and i think you'll find a lot of -- [ applause ] separate and part from the circumstances in ferguson, which i am careful not to speak to because it is not my job as president to comment on ongoing investigations in specific cases. those are rooted in hard truth that's have to be addressed. so those who are prepared to work constructively, your

president will work with you. and a lot of folks i believe in law enforcement, and a lot of folks in city halls and governor's offices across the country want to work with you as well. so as part of that, i've instructed attorney general eric holder not to just investigate what happened in ferguson but also specific steps we can take together to set up a series of regional meetings focused on building trust in our communities. and next week we'll bring together state and local officials and law enforcement and xhult leaders and faith leaders to start identifying specific steps we can take to make sure that law enforcement is fair. and is being applied equally to every person in this country. and we know certain things work. we know if we train police

properly. if that improves policing and makes people feel that the system is fair. we know that when we have a police force that is representative of the communities it is serving, that makes a difference. we know that -- [ applause ] we know when there's clear accountability and transparency, when something happens, that makes a difference. so there are specific things we can do. and the key now is for us to lift up the best practices and work city by city, state by state, county by county, all across this country, because the problem is not just a ferguson problem. it is an american problem. and we've got to make sure that we are actually bringing about change. the bottom line is nothing of significance, nothing of benefit results from destructive acts.

i've never seen a civil rights law or a health care bill or an immigration bill result because a car got burned. it happened because people vote. it happened because people mobilize, people organize, it happens because people look at what are the best policies to solve the problem. that's how you actually move something forward. so don't -- don't take short term easy route. and just engage if destructive behavior team of long term hard but lasting route of working with me, and governors,

officials, to bring that some real change. to those who think that what happened in ferguson is an excuse for violence, i do not have any sympathy for that. i have no sympathy at all for destroying your own communities. but for the overwhelming majority of people who feel frustrated and pained, because they get a sense that maybe some communities aren't treated fairly or some individuals aren't seen as worthy as others, i understand that. and i want to work with you and move forward with you. your president will be right there with you. let's be constructive. i appreciate your patience because i know you came to talk about immigration but this is

relevant. >> there you their president of the united states. he will move on now and talk about the immigration proposals he put forward the other day. he was very, very firm. productive ways he said to deal with the anger, the frustration. the president said there's no excuse for the looting, the fires, the damage. those individuals who have committed those illegal acts, he said, should be prosecuted. jim acosta, you're our senior white house correspondent. you're monitoring what the president is doing. any indication the president might be heading over to ferguson to try to reassure the folks there, to calm the situation? i know that has been under considering for some time. >> in fact, i asked the president last night after he made those remarks at the briefing room in the white house. and he basically hedged as to whether that might happen. and earlier today, a top white house spokesman eric schultz said that is under consideration. so it is something he is looking at. and it would go a long way in programs calming things down but they would have to do it at the

right time. and now is not the right time. as you heard the president say, they do want to take some concrete steps at the white house to bring together what white house officials refer to as stake holders in this conversation about race and law enforcement in america. and it sounds like the president will be convening next week at the white house on that subject. setting up regional meetings around the country. there has been some talk that eric holder, the attorney general, may be doing that over the coming weeks. and valerie jarrett, the top official at the white house, she was on the phone with governor nixon last night. and earlier today. and so the white house is really been sort of doing a full-court press on this over the last 24 hours. as we know, from watching that brief statement that the president made last night and what's happening now in chicago, that he is having a split screen presidency for the moment. as he is speaking in front of the cameras, we're seeing things unfold in ferguson and the white house is very conscious of that. >> very conscious indeed. jim acosta, stand by.

don lemon, you're there on the streets of ferguson. when i think about the president last night right after the prosecutor made his announcement, no indictment. the president sweenlt the briefing room and made his statement. we were watching you within moments after the president appealed for calm and peaceful demonstrations, a lot of the folks over there, we saw the violence. they weren't listening to the president of the united states at all, were they? >> reporter: no, they weren't. the people he needed to reach are on the streets of ferguson where there are no televisions and they're not watching the news, unfortunately. the weird thing was as soon as the president mentioned not throwing bottles, and not being violent, someone threw a bottle into the crowd of police officers right behind me. almost on cue. and i did mention that last night. but i think it is interesting. as the president said he would set up what he calls stake holders and meet with them around the country. this is something many people around the country have been wanting the president to talk about. not just to talk about. but to actually have, make some

concrete movement and progress. take some action on. and i thought it was very poignant and important that president said i have never seen a bill getting passed because someone burned a car or looted a business. that's the message that the peaceful people, the overwhelming majority of people here who are law-abiding citizens, want to hear from the commander and chief of their country. >> i want to you stand by as well. we're watching the breaking news out of ferguson, missouri. looking at hive pictures. 2,000 national guard troops have been deployed. they'll try to prevent what happened last night. the fires, the looting, the destruction. much more of our special coverage coming up. i can... order safety goggles. play music for seedlings. post science fair projects. schedule guinea pig feedings. video chemical reactions.

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these are live pictures coming in from new york city. protesters gathering near union square. they're frustrated, angry about this decision by the ferguson grand jury not to indict the police officer. and we're going to monitor this demonstration. the demonstrations in baltimore, atlanta, all over the country. more demonstrations clearly in ferguson and st. louis as well. let's hope they all remain peaceful. we're back now with one of the brown family attorneys, daryl parks, who is joining us right now. thank you vex for joining us. you just heard the president of the united states speak passionately about the american justice system, the legal system. do you still have confidence in the american legal system? >> without doubt i have all the confidence in the world about

our legal system. however, there are a few time like this grand jury situation that sometime our system gets it wrong. it doesn't mean in any way that our system is bad. but there are some situations where our system has small failures. in this situation here, we're going to keep pressing forward. our legal system does offer other remedies to the brown family. we intend to fully pursue those remedy that's our legal system allows. when you heard the awful comments last night egging on the crowd by the stepfather of michael brown. and you treatment family. did you have a chance to talk to him? does he regret what he said? >> well, i think without question, the feelings that they had at the moment, they were caught in the moment without question. and i can tell you, they are very grief stricken, wolf, about what happened and to learn the news that they learned. i can tell you, leslie mcspaden believes in her heart of hearts that the system would do right

by her. when they didn't, she was traumatized and i think the stepfather also loved michael brown, was traumatized. so his comments that were made out of passion were just that. and if anyone, anyone has ever lost a child that they loved and that person is taken away, the person who did that to them. because michael brown didn't have to die. the person who took him away won't have to answer for taking that life. life is all we have. and to take that life means everything in the world. >> when you heard the st. louis prosecuting attorney robert mcculloch say he had african-american witnesses go before the grand jury and say they saw michael brown charging at the officer, what does that say to you? >> well, it doesn't say that this officer had to take the life. i think we're now learning a lot more about this officer's

mindset about one, this community, two, about michael brown, the demonic, the hoke, all of those comparisons are totally inappropriate. in his mind, for whatever reason, those are not reasons to take his life. he for whatever reason, had no appreciation for the fact that he was taking michael brown's life. taking all that michael brown had. because he had somewhat of a theory for whatever reason. it is no question about it. uncontradicted, michael brown had no weapon. this officer had all types of options that he could have used, that he chose not to use. instead chose to, because he says he felt fear, decided to take the life the way he did. he didn't to have shoot them way he did. >> where do you go from here legally speaking? the family's next steps? will there be a wrongful death lawsuit? >> wolf, that's an option.

it is something that our team is looking into and certainly privately taking action on the same. and we'll deal with that issue. this is not about money for them. lawsuits are only about money. however, that will have its day. what's important now though is that our federal system does have a civil rights investigation that the justice department is moving forward on. that's a different process. we would even, that process will run its course. let me say this. the state process all along we called and asked for a special prosecutor. we talked about it from august 9th, the first part of october. the first part of october, october 6th. we sent a letter to missouri governor jay nixon asking that the special prosecutor be appointed. one of the reasons that prompted that letter was the fact that we alerted this prosecutor's office hx made a decision to put all the cases on hold that involved officer wilson. well, they put him on hold because they realized that there

was an issue there. that they could not be prosecuting this guy in one case, yet be working with him on other cases. the fact they put him on hold indicated there was some suspicious or bias. in our justice system, any time there is a suspicion of bias, the proper thing to do is for him to remove himself and to have a special prosecutor apointed. so those are some serious procedural issues that we had early on. >> daryl parks, the family attorney for the michael brown family. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> let's get another point of view. a state lawmaker in missouri works for the st. louis police officers association. do you want to give me your immediate reaction to what we just heard from daryl parks, the family attorney for the brown family? >> well, my first reaction, wolf, is that if eric holder

were the st. louis county prosecutor, i doubt that he would be calling for him to step down from this case. the fact is bob mcculloch is the elected prosecutor in this county, overwhelmingly elected to i think his fifth or sixth term. and he has been a wonderful prosecutor. put every single piece of evidence before the grand jury and he is now being criticized form. i can't imagine the tsunami of criticism that would have followed if he would have held off just one piece of evidence from the grand jury. >> i understand you had a chance to speak to officer wilson last night. what was his reaction to the grand jury's decision not to indict him? >> i'm not going to go into any detail about when or where or how i talked to him. but his main concern is and continues to be with the police officers out there that are in harm's way. you can imagine this is a difficult time for him. knowing that shots are being

fired. hundreds of shots fired last night. a dozen buildings burned. two police cars ravaged with fire. this is a dangerous situation for police and national guardsmen and firefighters and being sidelined like this is difficult. >> we heard from the mayor of ferguson earlier in the day that wilson remains on administrative leave. do you know what he is planning on doing? i assume he is going to resign from the police force at some point. >> that's a personal decision that he and his family have to make. i have not had that conversation with him and frankly, i wouldn't share the details if i had. >> do you agree with a lot of the critics of the st. louis county prosecutor, robert mcculloch, the timing of the announcement, 8:00 p.m. local time, 9:00 p.m. eastern. that was a bad mistake because it was dark already. and the violence could really escalate as we saw it did.

>> well, i think there's not an hour of the day that he could have released that decision. that that same criticism wouldn't have fallen on him. we started hearing that criticism early in the afternoon. that the timing, before we knew what the timing would be, would somehow provoke violence. the fact is, the crowd chose to be violent. chose to engage in rioting and looting and mayhem and that is not on bob mcculloch. >> you heard the president of the united states moments ago saying he hopes that those who looted, who burned stores down. he homes they will be prosecuted. do you believe local police and state police will go after the violent polluters, the arsonists used the videotape that all of us have seen and start arresting

these people? >> it is going to be very difficult to apprehend them. the bedlam was all during at one time and identifying the culprits. it will be difficult. i'm sure law enforcement will make a pitched effort. they went out there all day on west florissant processing the various arsons as crime scenes. and i know there will be an effort to prosecute. this was a sort of baseball hit them where they ain't situation. the rioters and the folks who decided to burn buildings down just kept going to places where police and national guardsmen weren't stationed. this criticism after the fact that there should have been more guardsmen out there. that would have just driven them to the next building. so i don't buy that criticism. >> there will be a lot more national guards troops 2. 000 on the streets of ferguson to make sure the violence last night does not recur. by the way, not only the video we've been showing on television

but we're told there's a lot of cloetsed circuit television from the stores that were burned and destroyed that the police could use if they decide to go after those alleged criminals, should we say. thanks very much. joining us from ferguson, missouri. take a look at this. we'll show you some live pictures. these are protests underway in new york city right now. the protests underway in baltimore, atlanta. a lot of frustration, a lot of anger. we'll go back to ferguson.

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these are live pictures from new york city, manhattan, near union square in new york city. a lot of people running through the streets right there. they're protesting the decision of the grand jury in ferguson, missouri, not to indict the police officer. similar demonstrations are getting underway in other cities across the united states. we're following the breaking news. a second night of protests beginning over the grand jury decision over the michael brown shooting. we're also learning the details of the testimony that may have played a critical role. the testimony of the police officer, darren wilson who fired a dozen shots at the unarmed teenager including the one that killed him. our justice correspond pamela brown is joining us. she has details. what are you finding out about

officer wilson's testimony? >> well, officer darren wilson testified for several hours. he told the grand jury that michael brown's face looked like a demon. he said he was worried he would be knocked out or worse. and he said that brown charged toward him. now some of the witnesses accounts align with what he said. others were very different. among massive amounts of evidence presented to the grand jury, pictures of michael brown's blood. inside officer darren wilson's car were the could not frontation began. witnesses accounts of what happened outside the car recorded from 70 hours of grand jury testimony from around 60 people over the course of three months, dramatically differ. >> the prosecutor chose to present those witnesses, even the ones whose testimony was contradicted by the physical evidence. i think deciding ultimately, i'm going to let these ordinary citizens decide one way or the other. >> the 210-pound officer wilson testified he felt like a 5-year-old holding on to hulk

hogan. he said the 295-pound brown reached into his car and fought for his gun. they said brown turned around, making a grunt like an aggravated sound while he tuck his hand. the officer said he opened fire in self-defense. they said brown's body was 153 feet east from wilson's car and his blood was around 25 feet farther east. >> the blood trail indicated that michael brown had turned and had approached back toward officer wilson. >> other witnesses told the grand jury, wilson was the aggressor. one saying he gets out immediately and starts shooting. one of the biggest points of contention? whether the unarmed 18-year-old was surrendering. >> he tucked around with his hands up, beginning to tell the officer that he was unarmed and to tell him to stop shooting. >> one witness said i never seen him put his hands up. he started charging toward the police officer.

other recollections weren't so clear cut. one witness said brown didn't raise his hands but also never charged the officer. instead, he staggered slowly toward him. his arms outstretched. the st. louis prosecutor said some of the witnesses lost credibility. >> once the autopsy findings were released showing michael brown had not sustained any wound to the back of his body. no additional witnesses made such a claim. >> according to forensics, brown was struck at least six times out of the 12 rounds that were fired. the only close range wound was to his hand. >> pamela brown, thank you. let's dig deeper. our law enforcement analyst, tom fenlt he is. also joins us, the xlut activist john gaskin, and our senior legal analyst. give us a little idea of the mood right now on the ground there in ferguson. a lot of russ worried that there could be a recurrence, maybe even worse, we hope not, of what

happened last night. >> reporter: well, things here are pretty firm at the command center. there is quite a bit of a police presence. you see the police cars moving back and forth. lots of media here. but things are relatively calm right now. the street, west florissant is blocked off for much of it. so civilians getting access to that area where the riding and the looting took place last night. it is very difficult to get down those streets. security is very tight around the perimeter. and so it is quite clear from the governor's press conference, captain ron johnson's press conference today with the chief that they're tightening up on security very quickly so we don't see the same kinds of incidents as last night. >> are you seeing the national guard presence where you are? >> reporter: i have not seen the national guard presence where i am right now. no. >> let me bring tom fuentes into this.

federal and state law enforcement officials tell cnn, they didn't want the st. louis county prosecutor to make that announcement last night at night because they were afraid there could be the kind of violence we saw. this was obviously a mistake, right? >> i think you can say now. i would question what time of day he would ever make the announcement that we wouldn't have had the same result. not only that, if we have violence tonight, that would have been 30 hours since the announcement. >> if they would have made it in the morning, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 daylight, wouldn't that have made the police work easier as opposed to the middle of the night? >> maybe for a while. woinlt have stopped the people from couldn't back out after dark. and i think they would have had the same problem no mat where they announced. i think once it got dark, once the hooligan element got out there, this would have been the same thing, i think. >> listen to the prosecutor. robert mcculloch. he was pretty critical of the

news media in his remarks last night before announcing the decision. i won't play the clip but you know, he was suggesting that it was a one-sided presentation in favor michael brown against the police officer. you didn't like what he said, did you? >> no. i thought it was ridiculous and absurd and wining about the fact that mcculloch had to do his job which he was to interrogate witnesses and learn what they knew from the news media and what they learned from first hand observation. this is not the first high profile case in the history of the united states. lots of cases are covered by the news media. and that's part of the responsibility of a big city prosecutor. to learn how deal with that. i thought given the magnitude of the events, to be whining about social media and blogs and twitter instead of talking about doing his job about, an unarmed man who was killed in his city,

i thought it was entirely inappropriate part of his presentation. >> let me play that clip. i want to be precise. here's what the prosecutor said. stand by. i don't have that clip. what i do have is a separate clip. this is police officer, darren wilson. he remains on administrative leave right now from the ferguson police department. now that the jury has declined -- the grand jury has declined to indict him. he is speaking out in an interview with abc news. he is talking about the struggle that led to the weapon. >> i keep it on my right. i take it out and i come up and point it at him. i said get back or i'm going to shoot you. his response immediately, he grabbed the top of my gun. when he grab it, he said you're too much of a [ bleep ] to shoot me. i can feel his hand trying to come over my hand and get inside the trigger guard and shoot me with my own gun. that's when i pulled the trigger for the first time. >> what happened? >> it didn't go off.

the gun was being jammed by his hand on top of the firearm. i tried again. and again another click. this time, this has to work. otherwise i'm going to be dead. he will get this gun away from me. something will ham and i'll be dead. i pulled a third time and it went off. ? >> that was the first time you ever used your gun. yes, it was. >> in all your years as a police officer. >> yes. >> then what happens? >> he gets even angrier. it comes back in again at me again. i wasn't looking at him. i was, rack it, expecting another hit and i put my gun to fire. then i go to exit my car. when i'm getting out, i use my walkie and i said shots fired. send more cars and i start chasing after him. >> why not stay in the car? he's running away. >> because he's not -- my job isn't to just sit and wait. i have to see where the guy goes. >> you thought it was your duty to give chase. >> yes, it was. that's what we were trained to do. >> that's the clip.

tom fenlt he is. what do you make of that? >> of course it's his duty. i've heard the comments, there would have been violence so the police officer should have let him run away. he's committed a felony when he commits the robbery in the convenience store. he commits a second felony when he commits aggravated be battery on the police officer. to let him flee and maybe go to an apartment where he gets a gun and does something more serious, that's an surrender. . -- absurd. the police officer's job is to get felonies. to convince somebody to be arrested or they have to be olympic wrestlers with 350 pound people. the law is the law. if an officer says you're under arrest. had michael brown done, this he would be alive today. >> so the, the notion of using deadly force to subdue him. you say he was justified. >> he didn't use deadly force to subdue him.

according to the testimony, and his statement, and the forensics, brown turned around, left blood 25 feet further down the street. came back toward wilson. and the one witness that had been shown in the little clip of pamela brown that is jumping up and down claiming, he is surrendering, he is surrendering. i mattered individual give testimony -- not testimony. an interview where he said wilson was back pedaling as he was shooting. no com would be back pedaling unless the assailant is coming toward him. the evidence, the forensic evidence backs up much of what officer wilson says. now maybe he had some hyperbole with the hulk hogan comment. but the forensics show much of what he says is true as to the struggle at the car and what occurs on the street. the deadly force is when he charged at him. >> stand by. john gaskin, stand by. jeffy tooblin. we'll continue our analysis. we've now finally heard from the police officer.

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big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets.

what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.

all right. take a look at these live pictures from new york city. demonstrators are very angry about what happened in ferguson, missouri. they're protesting right now, in manhattan. this is not far from union square. we're monitoring this demonstration. others happening in other cities across the country and they're bracing for more trouble in ferguson, as you all know.

we're also hearing, for the first time, from the police officer, darren wilson. he just spoke out in an interview with abc news. listen to this clip. >> you say he starts to run. does the stutter step, starts to come towards you, and -- >> at that time, i gave myself another mental check. can i shoot this guy? legally, can i? and the question i answered to myself, i have to. if i don't, he will kill me if he gets to me. >> even though he's 35, 40 feet away? >> once he's coming that direction, if he hasn't stopped yet, when he's he going to stop? after he's coming at me and i decide to shoot, i fired a series of shots and paused. >> what did you see? >> i noticed at least one of them hit him. i don't know where, but i saw his body kind of flinch a little. and after that, i paused, and i didn't yell, you know, stop, get on the ground, giving him the opportunity to stop. and he ignored all the commands and he just kept running.

so after he kept running, again, i shot another series of shots, and at least one of those hit him. at this time, he's about 15 feet away. so i start backpedaling, because he's getting too close and he's still not stopping. as he gets 8 to 10 feet, he starts leaning forward like he's going to tackle me. and i look down the barrel of his gun and i fired and what i saw was his head and that's where it went. >> right in the top of his head? >> yes. >> you've never even shot your gun before and now a man is dead. >> mm-hmm. >> he also spoke about, in this interview with george stephanopoulos, he also spoke about the issue of race. listen to this. >> is there anything you could have done differently that would have prevented that killing from taking place? >> no. >> nothing? >> no. >> and you're absolutely convinced when you look through your heart and your mind that if michael brown were white, this would have gone down in exactly the same way? >> yes. >> let's bring in don lemmon. she's joining us from ferguson

once again. don, i want your reaction, specifically because you were one of those anchors who had a chance to meet in recent days with darren wilson, the police officer. i know it was off the record, but since then, you've spoken with his attorney. give us a little sense of what he's like. >> reporter: okay. so, let me explain to you what happened. you know, this -- normal network procedures, you go in, meet someone, try to do an interview with them, and many times those meetings are off the record. so my colleague at abc news, george stephanopoulos, won out and -- great. and so, i wanted him to have his moment, to get the interview out there first. and after the interview has been out there, it aired, we've been airing the clips, i called his attorneys and asked his attorneys if i could share the contents of our meeting on our air and his attorneys said yes, i give you permission to share. so, with that said, now that meeting is not off the record, it's on the record.

and i want to say that it is -- meeting hi ining him was intere because i was surprised by how boyish he is. he's a very young man. he's taller than i expected. and i didn't quite honestly think, wolf, that he was going to share the story with me about what happened on canfield drive that day. but when we got there, he did. he sat down with me and we spoke and his representatives were there. and he basically shared everything that he's saying to george stephanopoulos, and exactly what he said to the grand jury, about what happened. he said he was -- he was in his car, he had just finished a -- to the best of my recollection, i'll go over what he said, because it was off the record, there were no notes. but he said he was on canfield drive and just finished a sick baby call and he heard some of the commotion on the radio and told them to put him in service. and then he sees these two young men walking in the middle of the street and cars were going around them, so he asked them to

get out of the street, and then the altercation happened. he said, you know, in some way, that mike brown said an expletive to him, to "f" off, and you're not going to do anything to me, you're, you know, another expletive. and then they got into another altercation and mike brown hit him and that's what happened. and they got out of the car, finally, and then there was the altercation in the middle of the street. and he talked about the demonizing, all of those things in our conversation as well. >> how did he impress you as -- did he seem sincere? what was your impression of this police officer? >> reporter: well, you know, when i interview anyone, i just want to hear their story. i wasn't there to decide whether he was telling me the truth or not. you know, when we spoke to michael brown's family, we spoke to dorian johnson, the key witness in all of this, and basically, what you do is you just ask them questions. it's not up to me, it's up to the grand jury. it's up to the viewer.

it's up to the representatives to decide if they're telling the truth or not. but did he seem like, you know, his story was believable? yes, it didn't -- he has told it over and over. did i think that he was deceiving me in some way? no. but i do think that most people will, you know, say their best recollection of things. and obviously, i don't think he wanted to do himself any harm in speaking to us. and i don't think any of the witnesses on the brown side wanted to do themselves any harm by speaking to us as well. i just wanted to go there as a journalist, to get an interview. and not to be a judge and jury. i just wanted to get an interview. he wanted to tell me the story. i didn't ask him. i was surprised that he did. and i imagine that with other colleagues who work at this network and others, that he did the same thing. but he talked to me about his family. initially, his fiancee was not there, and he was very cordial

and he invited me back to meet his fiancee. i actually stayed here a little bit longer than i was supposed to and met his fiancee and talked to her. and i have to -- i have to say, quite honestly, she was a little bit upset with the network news coverage, some of the networks, because they put her home on television. and she said, i don't see what that had to do with anything, our home. you know, onbviously, darren ha his issues and he's dealing with that, but why did our home have to be on the news? what did that have to do with anything? we were there for less than a year and now we've moved and we're in hiding. and i understand, i don't know what putting her home on the news had to do with anything. >> and your meeting was separately. anderson cooper also met with him, right? >> reporter: yeah. you'll have to ask anderson. listen, i can't share for my colleague. if anderson wants to divulge

what he did, yes. and i think he did on twitter, say that he met with him. but, yeah, anderson did as well. and it was an undisclosed location. >> don is going to have a lot more throughout the night, including 10:00 p.m. eastern, cnn tonight. don, thanks very much for that report. that's it for me. thanks for watching. the breaking news continues right now with "erin burnett outfron outfront". "outfront" tonight, breaking news. ferguson on the edge. missouri's governor ordering an additional 1,500 national guard troops to the area, ready for a repeat of last night's violence. and for the first time, officer darren wilson speaks out, telling his side of what happened that day in ferguson. that interview, ahead. plus, "outfront" talks to dorian johnson. that was the young man who was with michael brown, beside him, when he was shot and killed. that interview, "outfront." let's go outfron.