FBI urged to probe deaths of black men
WASHINGTON – The parents of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two black men who died in encounters with white police officers, joined with civil-rights leaders Thursday to call for a full federal investigation and charges against those involved in their deaths.
“I’m here to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else’s family,” said Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., who stood with leaders from the National Urban League, the National Action Network, the Black Women’s Roundtable and the NAACP at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.
The civil rights organizations called on the Justice Department to intervene in the criminal investigations of the police officers responsible for Brown’s and Garner’s deaths. The younger Brown, 18, was shot and killed by a police officer last month in Ferguson, Missouri. Garner, 43, died July 17 after a confrontation with police on Staten Island, New York, who were attempting to question him about selling untaxed, loose cigarettes.
FBI: Few Americans fighting in Syria
WASHINGTON – The number of Americans the government believes is fighting alongside extremist groups in Syria is almost one-tenth the number cited by government officials and lawmakers for months.
There are about 12 Americans believed to be fighting in Syria right now, FBI Director James Comey said Thursday. There are more than 100 Americans who have either tried to go to Syria and were arrested, or went and came back to the U.S., Comey said without offering more details.
The 100 figure, however, had taken on urban legend status in recent months.
Associated Press
