First of all we haven't heard the whole story. The so called witnesses say he had his hands up and the nasty cop shot him. The witnesses were all his friends. Very early on, I had heard that the youth was trying to get the gun away from the officer. Here in town, a groups of blacks were acting up and a cop went to stop it. A young man pulled up his shirt and reached for a gun so the cop shot him (Fatally) His buddies ran away with his gun so now they are saying a white cop shot an unarmed black youth, and all his friends say "No gun". Al Sharpton missed an opportunity here todo some race agitating. It will take a long time to see the truth- if we ever do. As above posters have repeatedly said- There is absolutely no excuse for the looting, just like there was no excuse for doing it in New Orleans during the hurricane. Did the officer over do it??? I think he did. Officers are trained to shoot to kill, not wound. What about the two persons who were shot during last nights rioting, and not by cops ??? Also, it appears to me that our president had already taken sides.