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Georgia officials respond to growing tensions after unarmed teen killed

ATLANTA — A local official says he’s planning on traveling to Missouri, after protests over the shooting of an unarmed teen got out of hand.

Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri Aug. 10.

Friday, Ferguson's police Chief Thomas Jackson released new details about Brown, saying he was a robbery suspect.

Channel 2’s Ryan Young spoke to DeKalb’s public safety director Dr. Cedric Alexander regarding the case. Alexander says he plans to fly to Missouri Saturday and Channel 2 Action News will be there with him.

Alexander says he plans on sitting with the police chief and community leaders as well to have a dialogue with them.

“We are going to have an opportunity to sit down and talk about some of the missteps that currently has been made,” Alexander said.

Officials named Darren Wilson, a six-year veteran, as the officer who shot 18-year-old unarmed Michael Brown Friday. Police say Brown was a suspect in a convenience store robbery.

“I’m going to Ferguson because I think it’s time now. We couldn’t just look at Selma; we had to look at the civil rights of America. We need an urban policy reconstruction with our urban America,” Rev. Jesse Jackson said.

Since the shooting, there’s been civil unrest and Jessie Jackson believes there needs to be a greater national conversation about urban policing.

“It’s painful because you see police calling black people animals. You see the militia in the streets as if this was Iraq or some place,” Jackson said.

The Missouri shooting has also sparked outrage from state and local NAACP leaders in Georgia.

“Ferguson could be any city,” Dr. DL White, president of the NAACP, said.

State and local NAACP leaders held a conference Friday and say the shooting and street clashes between protestors and police in riot gear, are harsh reminders of the cultural, economic and racial fault lines that still exist in many cities.

“I come here as a mother saying, ‘What about our babies?’ Although he’s in Missouri, he’s still our baby, he’s still our child and we need justice,” Atlanta NAACP board member Mary Ross said.

“When you look at the tear gas, rifles, and half tanks, it’s disgraceful to black folk and other folks of good will. And we cannot afford to accept it,” DeKalb NAACP member John Evans said.

The organization says the images on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, were like a flashback to Civil Rights protests of the 60s.

“We, the NAACP, condemn the tactics used by the police officials, because the response was not called for,” White said.

                                                                      Channel 2’s Tom Regan and Ryan Young contributed to this story.