President Obama has called the fatal shooting of unarmed Missouri teen Michael Brown 'heartbreaking', in a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon. The president, who is currently vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, offered his 'deepest condolences' to the family of the 18-year-old who was shot up to eight times by a police officer, who witnesses claim then fired on Brown as he lay wounded on the street. The message from the president was followed by one from Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, who was asked if she had a message to the policeman who shot her son. She said: 'If he did something wrong, you know you did something wrong. You take your punishment. If you were a man you'd stand up, you'd be a man, you would say you was wrong.'
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President Obama issued his statement on the death of the Missouri teen on Tuesday afternoon
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Sent his deepest condolences to Michael Brown's family
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Called for calm in Ferguson, St. Louis, after two nights of rioting and looting
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Brown was shot dead by a police officer on Saturday
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Witnesses and police have offered different accounts of the incident
The days since the incident, which unfolded in broad daylight on Saturday, have been marked by riots and looting by @placeholder's incensed supporters who have clashed with heavily-armed police on the streets of suburban St. Louis.