Ferguson in flames: 1 dead after fiery night of protests

© KTVI

Police found a body inside a car parked near Ferguson’s Canfield apartments Tuesday morning.

At least one person died during a night of fiery chaos in Ferguson.

Police found a body inside a car parked near the Canfield apartment complex in the St. Louis suburb, close to where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot dead in August.

The victim - an unidentified black male in his 20s - was shot and burned, reported. Police are investigating the incident as a suspicious death.

It's not clear if he was a victim of Monday's riots, which erupted after a grand jury refused to indict officer Darren Wilson for the August shooting death of the unarmed teenager.

Furious protesters set at least 25 buildings ablaze and looted a slew of local businesses in suburb and greater St. Louis overnight Monday and into early Tuesday.

The riots - which led to at least 82 arrests across the city and injured 13 overnight - were the most violent since the Aug. 9 shooting. Among the vandalized stores: Ferguson Market & Liquor, the convenience shop Brown robbed before his fatal confrontation with Wilson.

"While we support everybody's right to come out and have their voice heard, we don't tolerate violence," St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said at a Tuesday press conference. He promised to increase police presence Tuesday night.

Police reported hearing more than 100 gunshots throughout the night Monday, which for a time prevented crews from fighting the fires ignited by protesters.

"We have been fighting approximately 25 structure fires tonight, along with a car dealership where we lost 10 cars that were burned up," Assistant Fire Chief Steve Fair told . More than a dozen of those buildings were destroyed.

A Little Caesars Pizza, a butcher shop, a beauty supply store and two auto parts stores were among the businesses that were burned.

Area hospitals reported 13 injures, including two gunshot wounds, according to the .

At least 61 people were arrested in Ferguson and another 21 were booked in St. Louis, officials said. Charges against the detained protesters include gun possession and felony unlawful assembly.

About 10 St. Louis-bound flights were diverted or canceled Monday night because of concern about gunfire being aimed into the sky, a Lambert-St. Louis International Airport spokesman said.

One person was carjacked late Monday while driving through the protest area, and then hit with his own car when the theft made a getaway. The victim's condition was not known.

Riot police tried to use tear gas to disperse the protesters, but the move only seemed to make activists angrier. After officers unleashed a wave of gas on the crowd, protesters smashed the windows of a FedEx and wrecked the store.

Protesters hurled rocks, water bottles and other objects at cops and anyone else in their way: CNN correspondent Sara Sidner was struck by a flying stone while she was reporting live on air and a peaceful protestor was left with a bloodied face after he was hit in the head with a chunk of concrete.

The riots began immediately after Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch announced Wilson would not face charges around 9 p.m. Monday.