FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Highway Patrol seized control of a St. Louis suburb Thursday, stripping local police of their law-enforcement authority after four days of clashes between officers in riot gear and furious crowds protesting the death of an unarmed black teen shot by an officer.

The intervention, ordered by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, came as President Barack Obama spoke publicly for the first time about Saturday's fatal shooting of Michael Brown and the subsequent violence that shocked the nation and threatened to tear apart Ferguson, a town that is nearly 70 percent black patrolled by a nearly all-white police force.

Obama said there was "no excuse" for violence either against the police or by officers against peaceful protesters.

Nixon's promise to ease the deep racial tensions was swiftly put to the test as demonstrators gathered again Thursday evening in the neighborhood where looters smashed and burned businesses on Sunday and police repeatedly fired tear gas and smoke bombs.

But the latest protests were a world apart from the earlier demonstrations, with a light, even festive atmosphere and no hint of violence. The streets were filled with music, free food and even laughter.

Protester Cleo Willis said the change was palpable.

"You can feel it. You can see it," he said. "Now it's up to us to ride that feeling."

After a particularly violent Wednesday night, Nixon said local police would no longer be in charge of the area, although they would still be present. He said Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, who is black, would be in command.

The change was meant to ensure "that we allow peaceful and appropriate protests, that we use force only when necessary, that we step back a little bit and let some of the energy be felt in this region appropriately," Nixon said.

"Ferguson will not be defined as a community that was torn apart by violence but will be known as a community that pulled together to overcome it," the governor said at a news conference in the nearby community of Normandy.

The governor was joined at a news conference by the white mayor of St. Louis and the region's four state representatives and the county executive, all of whom are black.

Did Capitol Police Overreact?

There is still a lot we don’t know. But when you look at more of the details you have to wonder if the capitol police had enough reason to shoot her. 

Taking a life should be the last resort. And we have to wonder if reason could have been shown by someone. 

Obviously her reactions were not justified, but wouldn’t a nonlethal reaction have been more appropriate? 

Most of these questions will sadly never be answered. What do you think? Should the capitol police have shown restraint?

Panic in DC after female driver with a child rammed barricades outside the White House before fleeing to the Capitol, crashing into a police car and being shot dead

• Capitol Hill was placed in lockdown after gunshots fired in downtown DC on Thursday
• A child, aged around 2 years, was in the black car with the female suspect, Miriam Carey, 34, who was shot and killed by police officers
• Carey, from Connecticut, ‘did not fire any shots’
• No link to terrorism and believed to be an isolated incident, police said

You can see where someone might be a little freaked out with all these guns drawn on her:

Way to go there .... Kathryn

Boulder Colorado police arrested a Westminster man on suspicion he stole a bicycle from a Boulder woman after she found it for sale on Craigslist two days later.

Kathryn Lucas, 25, of Boulder, told police she locked her bike on a rack near 14 and Pearl streets Friday, according to a police report. When she returned, the bike was missing and she filed an online report.

On Sunday, Lucas was on Craigslist when she noticed a bike that resembled her road bike. She arranged with the seller, identified by police as Denzel O'Neal Crawford, 18, to look at the bike near a pool in Westminster.

When she arrived, she confirmed the bike was hers and asked Crawford if she could take a test ride. After Crawford agreed, Lucas rode the bike to her vehicle, loaded it into her car and drove away.

She then called Westminster police.