Ferguson Shooting Decision: Delay Fuels Fears Of 'Spin' In Grand Jury Decision

Update as of 6:21 a.m. EST: There were no arrests made overnight in Ferguson, Missouri, NBC News reported, citing St. Louis County Police, as protesters continue to await the outcome of the grand jury deliberations, which are expected to continue Monday.

Update as of 2:19 a.m. EST: As a grand jury continues to deliberate on whether to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting death of black teen Michael Brown, the delay -- a decision was widely expected on Friday -- has fueled fresh speculation among protesters that Wilson might not be indicted, The Associated Press reported.

The report cited one protester as saying that authorities are delaying the decision “to spin this in the most positive way possible.”

According to Reuters, protesters in Ferguson, which has seen a string of demonstrations over the past four days in anticipation of the grand jury’s decision in the controversial case, might now have to wait until at least Monday, or longer, for an announcement.

As the Missouri town of Ferguson and the country await the decision of a grand jury in the Aug. 9 shooting death of a black teenager by a white police officer, President Barack Obama on Sunday called for calm once the ruling is announced, and noted that race relations in the country have improved over the past decade.

A ruling from the grand jury, which is deliberating on whether officer Darren Wilson should be indicted for the killing of 18-year-old of Michael Brown, is expected to be announced Monday. Events surrounding the controversial shooting, which have been described differently by various eyewitnesses, led to weeks of protests, which sometimes turned violent. On Sunday night, Twitter updates from the region reported incidents involving flag-burning and a reporter being hit by a "flying object."

“First and foremost, keep protests peaceful,” Fox news quoted Obama as saying on ABC’s This Week. “This is a country that allows everybody to express their views, allows them to peacefully assemble, to protest actions that they think are unjust, but using any event as an excuse for violence is contrary to rule of law and contrary to who we are.”

Obama, the country's first African-American president, also argued that race relations in the U.S. had significantly improved over the past 10 years.

“My own experience tells me race relations continue to improve,” Obama told ABC. “There’s no way to say race relations are worse than 20, 50 years ago.”

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, fearing a fresh round of protests after the 12-member grand jury decision, has declared a state of emergency. The FBI has also reportedly deployed about 100 additional agents to Ferguson to assist law enforcement agencies.

Meanwhile, tensions have been growing in Ferguson and other parts of the St. Louis area in recent days. Over the weekend, crews erected barricades around the judicial center in Clayton, Missouri, where the grand jury deliberations are taking place. On Sunday night, a reporter from the Los Angeles Times tweeted that dozens of demonstrators had blocked a traffic intersection in St. Louis while police and journalists monitored the situation. He also reported being hit by a "flying object."

Last week, two men, who were reportedly suspected of planning to detonate a bomb during protests in Ferguson have been charged with a federal firearms offense. According to reports, the men allegedly planned to detonate an explosive soon after the grand jury announced its decision.

Here are some tweets reporting the growing unrest in Ferguson: