Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has ordered the National Guard to leave Ferguson, as peaceful protests continue over the police killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Brown’s funeral is scheduled for Monday and is expected to draw a huge crowd. On Thursday, Missouri State Senator Jamilah Nasheed was threatened with arrest as she sought to deliver a 70,000-signature petition to prosecutor Bob McCulloch calling for him to be replaced by a special prosecutor in the case. McCulloch has extensive family ties to law enforcement; his father was a police officer killed by an African American. On Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder assured residents the federal probe of the shooting will be independent.

Eric Holder: “The national outcry we have seen speaks to a sense of mistrust and mutual suspicion that can take hold in the relationship between law enforcement and certain communities. I wanted the people of Ferguson to know that I personally understood that mistrust. I wanted them to know that while so much else may be uncertain, this attorney general and this Department of Justice stands with the people of Ferguson.”