Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson 3 years ago - here's how his death is being commemorated

Wednesday marked the third anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, at the hands of white police officer Darren Wilson.

Brown's death roiled the roughly 20,000-strong population of Ferguson, Missouri, prompted protests and riots, and ignited a national debate on racial bias and excessive use of force in policing across the country.

In 2015, a grand jury declined to indict Wilson for civil rights violations in the shooting, but Brown's family later won a $1.5 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit.

A Department of Justice review of Ferguson's policing practices also found that the city's officers routinely violated residents' constitutional rights, frequently conducting stops without reasonable suspicion or arrests without probable cause, and often employing excessive force.

Ferguson, with its mostly black population formerly governed by disproportionately white lawmakers, has attempted to overhaul its police department and city leadership in the years since Brown's death.

And it has somewhat succeeded - the city has hired a black police chief, Delrish Moss, hired more black officers, and elected several black city council members.

But despite the leadership adjustments, Ferguson residents have argued that not enough has changed in the community since Brown's death.

A group of more than two dozen people gathered at the site where he died on Tuesday evening to rebuild a makeshift memorial, placing candles, teddy bears, and balloons on the street where Brown was killed three years ago.

"Where are the police and politicians tonight?" organizer Meldon Moffitt said at the gathering, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

"If they cared about the community, about making a difference, they would be here with us. They're part of this too."

Activists also took to Twitter on Wednesday to commemorate Brown's death: