Archive and Content Search
After months of speculation, late last night it was announced that the grand jury declined to indict officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
The announcement was followed by riots, looting and arsonists setting fire to more than 20 buildings overnight, ABC News reported.
Despite many of the graphic images making their way across the Internet, representatives from several industry companies report that the situation is contained and things in the area surrounding Ferguson are quiet.
“There were businesses that were boarding up in preparation for things, but it’s been pretty clear,” says Joe Thorn of W-S Window & Door in St. Louis. Thorn lives in Florissant, a town that neighbors Ferguson, and hasn’t seen the protests spread there yet. He also doesn’t anticipate an uptick in residential window demand.
“I haven’t seen anything done to houses. I don’t foresee that happening,” he says. “Watching the national news media, you would think that the entire city of St. Louis is on fire, but it’s not. There were a couple of areas where things were going on, but the looting and riots are confined to Ferguson.”
A spokesperson for Penny Window, three miles from the protests, reported calm as well.
“In our area, we’re fine. It’s close but we are okay,” she says.
Jackie Greer of St. Louis Glass Works explains that while there may be calm now, it will likely get worse into the night.
“I think it will be busy for us. It looks like there was a little more damage than when [the shooting] originally happened,” she says. Greer’s worried since the protests have moved from Ferguson—a relatively small town—to Clayton, where the courthouse and several highrises are. “That could be more catastrophic because there are more commercial buildings.”
