Killing of Michael Brown

This article is about the shooting of Michael Brown. For the protests that followed, see 2014 Ferguson unrest.

Shooting of Michael Brown

Location of Ferguson, Missouri, within St. Louis County and St. Louis County within Missouri
Date	Saturday, August 9, 2014 (2014-08-09)
Time	12:01 p.m. – 12:03 p.m.
Location	Ferguson, Missouri, U.S.
Coordinates	38.73847°N 90.27387°W / 38.73847; -90.27387
Participants	Darren Wilson (police officer) Michael Brown (deceased) Dorian Johnson (accompanied Brown)
Deaths	Michael Brown

The shooting of Michael Brown occurred on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, 28, a white police officer. The disputed circumstances of the shooting and the resultant protests and civil unrest received considerable attention in the United States and abroad, and have sparked debate about law enforcement's relationship with African Americans and police use of force doctrine.

Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson were walking down the middle of the street, shortly after stealing a box of cigars from a convenience store, when Wilson drove up and told them to move to the sidewalk. Brown and Wilson struggled through the window of the police vehicle until Wilson's gun was fired as a result of the struggle. Brown and Johnson then fled in different directions, with Wilson in pursuit of Brown eventually firing several more times. In the entire altercation Wilson fired a total of twelve shots, Brown being hit by six, with the last being the fatal shot. Witness reports differ as to whether and when Brown had his hands raised, and whether he was moving toward Wilson, when the final shots were fired.

The shooting sparked protests and unrest in Ferguson, in part due to the belief among many that Brown was surrendering, as well as longstanding racial tensions between the majority-black Ferguson community and the majority-white city government and police. Protests, both peaceful and violent, along with vandalism and looting, continued for more than a week, resulting in night curfews. The response of area police agencies in dealing with the protests received significant criticism from the media and politicians. There were concerns over insensitivity, tactics and a militarized response. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon ordered local police organizations to cede much of their authority to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Mainly peaceful protests continued for several weeks.

A few days after the shooting, the Ferguson Police Department released a video of a convenience store robbery that occurred only minutes before the shooting. It showed Brown taking cigarillos and shoving a store employee who tried to prevent him from leaving. The timing of the video release received criticism from some media, the Brown family, and some public officials, who viewed the release as an attempt to impeach Brown. Others said the video was informative as to Brown's state of mind, with the shooting incident coming so shortly after the robbery. There is conflicting evidence as to whether Officer Wilson knew of Brown's involvement in the robbery.

The events surrounding the shooting were investigated by a county grand jury. In a press conference on November 24, 2014, Robert P. McCulloch, the Prosecuting Attorney for St. Louis County, Missouri, announced that the jury had decided not to indict Darren Wilson for his actions. The Department of Justice is reviewing Ferguson Police Department's internal investigations of use of force during the last four years.

Background

Michael Brown Jr.

Michael Brown Jr.
Born	Michael Brown Jr. (1996-05-20)May 20, 1996 St. Louis
Died	August 9, 2014(2014-08-09) (aged 18) Ferguson, Missouri, U.S.
Cause of death	Gunshot wounds
Occupation	Student

Michael Brown Jr. (May 20, 1996 – August 9, 2014) was the son of Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. Brown graduated from Normandy High School in St. Louis eight days before his death, completing an alternative education program. His teachers said he was "a student who loomed large and didn't cause trouble", referring to him as a "gentle giant". At the time of his death, he was 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and weighed 292 lb (132 kg).

Darren Wilson

Darren Wilson
Born	Darren Dean Wilson (1986-05-14)May 14, 1986 Fort Worth, Texas
Occupation	Police officer
Employer	Ferguson Police Department

Darren Dean Wilson (born May 14, 1986) was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He resides in Crestwood, Missouri, a city of 11,000 people about 18 miles (29 kilometers) southwest of Ferguson. He was 28 years old at the time where Michael Brown is killed.

Wilson first worked as a police officer in the police department of Jennings, Missouri, later disbanded. Wilson had no disciplinary history with the department. After the Jennings Police Department was disbanded, Wilson became a police officer in Ferguson. He was described by a Jennings coworker as an "average officer" who "didn't get into any trouble". Former Jennings Police Chief Robert Orr said that he hardly remembered Wilson and said "that must mean he never got in any trouble, because that’s when they usually came to me".

Darren Wilson is 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and 210 lb (95 kg).

Fatal shooting

At 11:51 a.m. on August 9, 2014, a convenience store security camera captured video of Brown taking a $48 box of cigarillos and physically assaulting and intimidating a convenience store clerk. A police dispatcher reported a "stealing in progress" at 11:53, and at 11:57 dispatch said the suspect was wearing a red Cardinals hat, a white T-shirt, yellow socks, and khaki shorts, and was accompanied by another man. At noon, Wilson radioed to ask other officers searching for the thieves if they needed him and was told by dispatch that the suspects had disappeared.

At 12:01 p.m., Wilson drove up to Brown and Johnson in the middle of Canfield Drive and ordered them to move off the street and onto the sidewalk. Wilson continued driving past the two men, but then backed up and stopped close to them, after, according to Wilson, realizing that Brown matched the description of the robbery suspect. Dispatch recordings indicate that Wilson called for backup at 12:02, saying "[Unit] 21. Put me on Canfield with two. And send me another car."

A struggle took place between Brown and Wilson through the window of the police SUV, a Chevrolet Tahoe. Wilson's gun was fired twice during the struggle, with one bullet hitting Brown's arm while it was inside the vehicle. Brown and Johnson fled and Johnson hid behind a car. Wilson got out of the vehicle and pursued Brown. Blood on the ground supports statements that Brown continued to move closer toward Wilson after being hit by a number of bullets. At some point, Wilson fired his gun again, with at least six shots striking Brown in the front, fatally wounding him. Brown was unarmed.

Less than 90 seconds passed from the time Wilson encountered Brown to the time of Brown's death.

Accounts

Multiple witnesses saw part or all of the event and have given interviews to the media and testified to the grand jury. The witness accounts have been widely described as conflicting on various points. David A. Klinger, a criminologist at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, said that eyewitness testimony often differs from witness to witness, a phenomenon commonly known as the Rashomon effect.

Interview with Darren Wilson

On November 26, Darren Wilson gave his first interview about the shooting to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.

Police

On August 10, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar stated that "the genesis of this shooting incident was a physical confrontation" during which Brown "physically assaulted the police officer". According to Belmar, Wilson attempted to exit his vehicle but was pushed back into it by Brown, who then assaulted him inside. Brown then allegedly attempted to seize Wilson's gun, which was fired at least once during the struggle. Belmar acknowledged that "more than a couple" of shots struck Brown in the course of the encounter.

In August, Ferguson's chief of police Tom Jackson stated that Wilson had been injured in the incident. Anonymous sources falsely claimed that Wilson had been beaten nearly unconscious and had suffered a fractured eye socket. CNN reported that an anonymous source claimed that x-rays had been taken after the incident and they came back negative for a fractured eye socket. In October, The New York Times reported that an unnamed source claimed that Wilson told investigators that Brown had punched and scratched him, which left swelling on his face and cuts on his neck. In November, surveillance video was released of Wilson in the Ferguson police station a few hours after the shooting. Brown family attorneys said the video shows that initial reports of Wilson’s injuries were exaggerated. Pictures of Wilson's injuries were released after the reading of the grand jury results.

Initially, the Ferguson City Police Department declined to release Wilson's identity and stated that he had been placed on administrative leave. On August 15, Chief Jackson announced that the name of the officer involved in the shooting was Darren Wilson, who was a five-year police veteran with no disciplinary actions against him. According to Jackson, Wilson initially stopped Brown for walking in the street and blocking traffic, but "at some point" during the encounter Wilson saw cigars in Brown's hands and thought he might be a suspect in the robbery that had occurred at a nearby convenience store a few minutes before the shooting. The owners of the convenience store told KTVI that no one working at the store reported a robbery, but that the 911 call came from a customer inside the store.

On August 19, The New York Times reported that, according to law enforcement officials, "As Officer Wilson got out of his car, the men were running away. The officer fired his weapon but did not hit anyone." Also, Wilson said that when Brown later moved towards him with lowered arms, he decided to use deadly force because he feared Brown was going to attack him.

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell reported on August 21 that Wilson did not complete an incident report about the shooting, after being advised by a union lawyer not to do so. According to O'Donnell, Wilson did file a report, but not until ten days after the shooting, and the report contained no information other than his name and the date. According to the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office, the Ferguson Police Department has never generated an incident report on the shooting.

On August 20 and August 21, the St. Louis County Police and the Ferguson Police released their respective incident reports, which gave the time when each police force arrived on the scene and classified the incident as a homicide. Neither report contains a narrative description of what occurred.

Saki Knafo of The Huffington Post commented that the Ferguson incident report was "almost entirely blank", with the address and time of day of the shooting, and other "bare-bones details". In Knafo's opinion, police reports generally include details about the crime scene, interviews with witnesses, and the names of all the officers involved. Vanita Gupta, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said "[it] just further demonstrates the lack of transparency and lack of information that is being provided by the Ferguson police department about the Michael Brown shooting." A spokesperson for the county police said that the information they provided contains details they are required to share by law, but that other information was "protected until the investigation is complete". The report states that police learned of the killing at 12:43 p.m., 40 minutes after the incident, and that officers did not arrive at the scene until 1:30 p.m. The spokesperson said that the response was slow because officers were investigating another crime at the time.

Yahoo News reported that the use-of-force report for the shooting, which is required by Ferguson Police Department protocol after any lethal or non-lethal force is used, does not exist, and that its absence goes against recommended standards of state and national police credentialing groups.

Leaked testimony from Darren Wilson

On October 22, anonymous sources "close to the investigation" leaked to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch what they described as Wilson's grand jury testimony, following other leaks on Wilson's version of the events.

According to the leaked testimony, the incident began as Wilson was driving down Canfield Drive, having just handled a call about a sick baby, when he saw Brown and Johnson walking down the middle of the street. Wilson told them to move to the sidewalk and was met with verbal abuse from the pair in response. Wilson saw that they were carrying cigarillos, and he noticed that Johnson matched the description of a suspect in a strong-arm robbery where cigarillos had been stolen. Wilson parked his vehicle and called for assistance, then tried to get out of the vehicle, but was punched in the face by Brown through the open window. Wilson thought he had no choice but to draw his weapon, because Brown was "incredibly strong". He was unable to use pepper spray due to the close quarters, and his baton was out of reach. Brown grabbed Wilson's pistol while punching him repeatedly in the face. Wilson could feel Brown pushing the weapon back toward his body, and it was at one point pointed back at his hip. Wilson pulled back inside the vehicle and attempted to shoot Brown, but he failed the first time because Brown's finger was jammed in the hammer of the gun. The gun fired on the second attempt, resulting in a wound to Brown's hand, as well as scattering fragments of glass inside the vehicle. A second gunshot failed to hit Brown before Brown fled. Wilson's shoulder radio had been knocked off-setting during the struggle, and he decided to give chase. After he got out of the vehicle, Brown turned back toward him, then charged at him despite his commands to stop. Wilson fired at Brown, hitting him four times, including a final, fatal shot to the forehead, which brought Brown down.

Wilson told investigators that he did not recall yelling or saying anything when he was chasing Brown, but when Brown stopped, turned and began running toward him, he yelled stop. According to a source reported in The Washington Post, Wilson testified to the grand jury that he ordered Brown to stop and lower himself to the ground, but Brown instead turned and moved toward the officer. Wilson said that Brown's hands were not raised at the time of the shooting.

The Justice Department issued a statement saying that it "considers the selective release of information in this investigation to be irresponsible and highly troubling. Since the release of the convenience-store footage, there seems to be an inappropriate effort to influence public opinion about this case." Wilson's defense team denied they were behind the leaks, stating that they "[were] not in possession of any of the disclosed reports or the investigative report". The St. Louis County prosecutor spokesperson said that his office wouldn't investigate the leaks because they could not force journalists to divulge their sources, and said that "you can tell by the information they have that the leaks are not coming from the grand jury or the prosecutor's office."

Dorian Johnson

Dorian Johnson, a friend of Brown, was walking with him in the street. Johnson said that Wilson pulled up beside them and said, "Get the fuck on the sidewalk." The young men replied that they were "not but a minute away from [their] destination, and [they] would shortly be out of the street". Wilson drove forward without saying anything further, only to abruptly back up, positioning his vehicle crosswise in their path, almost hitting the two men. "We were so close, almost inches away, that when he tried to open his door aggressively, the door ricocheted both off me and Big Mike's body and closed back on the officer."

Wilson, still in his vehicle, grabbed Brown around his neck through the open window. Brown tried to pull away, but Wilson continued to pull Brown toward him "like tug of war". Brown "did not reach for the officer's weapon at all", and was attempting to get free of Wilson rather than attack him or take his weapon from him. Wilson drew his weapon and said, "I'll shoot you" or "I'm going to shoot", and almost instantaneously fired his weapon, hitting Brown.

Following the initial gunshot, Brown was able to free himself, at which point the two fled. Wilson exited the vehicle, after which he fired several rounds at the fleeing Brown, hitting him once in the back. Brown turned around with his hands raised and said, "I don't have a gun. Stop shooting!" Wilson then shot Brown several more times, killing him. Johnson's attorney stated that Wilson did not attempt to resuscitate Brown, did not call for medical help, and "he didn't call it in that someone had been shot." Johnson told local TV stations shortly after the shooting that Brown had been surrendering when Wilson opened fire without cause or warning.

Johnson's attorney, Freeman Bosley, stated that Johnson had confirmed with law enforcement his and Brown's roles in taking the cigars prior to the shooting incident.

Michael Brady

Michael T. Brady, who lived near the scene of the shooting, said that he observed an initial altercation on the police vehicle while inside looking through a window. "It was something strange. Something was not right. It was some kind of altercation. I can't say whether he was punching the officer or whatever. But something was going on in that window, and it didn't look right." Brady could see Johnson at the front passenger side of the vehicle when he and Brown started running suddenly; he did not hear a gunshot or see what caused them to run. He saw Wilson get out of the vehicle and "start walking briskly while firing on Brown as he fled".

Brady then ran outside with his camera phone to record the event. By the time he got outside, Brown had turned around and was facing Wilson. Brown was "balled up" with his arms under his stomach and he was "halfway down" to the ground. As he was falling, Brown took one or two steps toward Wilson because he was presumably hit and was stumbling forward; Wilson then shot him three or four times. Brady said that the pictures he took of Brown with his arms tucked in under his body is the position he was in as he was shot three or four more times by Wilson before hitting the ground.

Piaget Crenshaw

Piaget Crenshaw said that, from her vantage point, it appeared that Wilson and Brown were arm wrestling before the former shot Brown from inside his vehicle. Wilson then chased Brown for about 20 feet before shooting him again. "I saw the police chase him ... down the street and shoot him down." When Brown then raised his arms, the officer shot him two more times, killing him.

According to earlier reports that appeared on August 10, Crenshaw saw Brown attempt to flee with his hands in the air and that he was hit with several shots as he ran.

On August 18, after the release of Baden's autopsy report, Crenshaw told CNN that no shots hit Brown's back as he was running away, "Clearly none of [the shots] hit him, but one, I think, did graze him as they said on the autopsy report. At the end, he just turned around ... after I'm guessing he felt the bullet grazed his arm, he turned around and he was shot multiple times."

Tiffany Mitchell

Tiffany Mitchell arrived in the area to pick up coworker Piaget Crenshaw. In an August 13 televised interview with a local CBS affiliate, Mitchell said she saw Brown and Wilson struggling through the window of Wilson's vehicle. "The kid was pulling off and the cop was pulling in." She started to take out her phone to record video, but then she heard a gunshot, "so I just started getting out of the way." After the first shot was fired, Brown started to run away. "After the shot, the kid just breaks away. The cop follows him, kept shooting, the kid's body jerked as if he was hit. After his body jerked he turns around, puts his hands up, and the cop continues to walk up on him and continues to shoot until he goes all the way down."

Mitchell also appeared on CNN that evening, describing what she witnessed as follows: "As I pull onto the side, the kid, he finally gets away, he starts running. As he runs the police get out of his vehicle and he follows behind him, shooting. And the kid's body jerked as if he was hit from behind, and he turns around and puts his hands up like this, and the cop continued to fire until he just dropped down to the ground and his face just smacks the concrete."

Construction worker

A construction worker at the nearby apartment complex, who spoke to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on condition of anonymity, said that he saw Brown running away with Wilson 10 to 15 feet behind. About 90 feet away from the vehicle, Wilson fired a shot at Brown, whose back was turned. Brown stumbled, stopped, put his hands up and said "OK, OK, OK, OK, OK." The worker believed Brown had been wounded. With his hands up, Brown began walking toward the officer, at which point Wilson began firing at Brown and backing away. After the third shot, Brown’s hands started going down, and he moved about 25 feet toward Wilson, who kept backing away and firing. The worker was unable to discern if Brown's movement toward the officer was "a stumble to the ground" or "OK, I'm going to get you, you're already shooting me." The worker disputed the claim, by defenders of Wilson, that Brown rushed at the officer, "I don't know if he was going after him or if he was falling down to die. It wasn't a bull rush."

In a cellphone video obtained by CNN on September 11, which captured the reaction of the construction worker and a colleague, one of them can be heard saying "He had his f**n hands up." The workers said they were approximately 50 feet away from Wilson when he opened fire. Jeffrey Toobin, CNN's legal analyst said that this video could play an important role in the case.

James McKnight

James McKnight said he witnessed the shooting and that Brown held his hands in the air just after he turned to face Wilson. He stumbled toward the officer, but didn't rush him, and "the officer was about six or seven feet away" from Brown.

Phillip Walker

Phillip Walker, a 40-year-old resident of a nearby apartment complex, said he saw Brown walking "at a steady pace" toward Wilson with his hands up and that he "did not rush the officer", adding that Wilson's final shot was from a distance of about four feet.

Emanuel Freeman

Emanuel Freeman, a 19-year-old resident of a nearby apartment complex, on witnessing the shooting, began tweeting about the incident two minutes after it began. Freeman stated that Wilson fired twice at Brown while he was running away, and five more times after he turned around to face Wilson.

Grand jury witnesses

On October 16, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an interview with a black Canfield resident who testified before the grand jury. The man, who did not want his name released, said he saw the entire event. Wilson drove past Johnson and Brown and then backed up again. A scuffle ensued in the police vehicle and Wilson's hat flew off. There was a gunshot from the vehicle, and then Brown ran down the street followed by Wilson. Wilson aimed his gun at Brown and repeatedly yelled "Stop", but did not fire until Brown turned around and stepped toward Wilson. At that point Wilson fired three shots. Brown staggered toward Wilson from 20 feet away with his hands out to his sides, when Wilson fired again. The witness said that Brown was already falling as the last shots were fired and that, in his opinion, the final shots were murder.

According to several people close to the grand jury investigation, seven or eight witnesses have given testimony consistent with Wilson's account. Details of the testimony were not reported. Speaking on condition of anonymity to The Washington Post, the sources said that the witnesses are all African American, and that they have not spoken publicly out of fear for their safety.

Bystander heard on video

An unidentified bystander, heard speaking in the background of a video recorded shortly after the shooting, is heard saying that after Brown stopped running and turned, "Next thing I know he's coming back towards the police. The police had his gun drawn on him. Police kept dumping on him, I'm thinking that the police missed him." The bystander said that he heard "at least five shots". He continued, "I think ... dude start running, kept coming toward the police."

Investigations

Law enforcement investigations of the shooting

Police investigation

On August 10, Jon Belmar, chief of the St. Louis County Police Department, announced that their department would be in charge of the investigation, after receiving a request from Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson to investigate the shooting. The Ferguson Police Department initially declined to name the officer involved in the shooting, citing concerns for his safety, and refused to commit to a deadline for releasing a full autopsy report. Robert P. McCulloch, the elected prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, is the official charged with determining if state charges will be filed. On August 20 he began submitting evidence in the shooting to a grand jury.

County executive Charlie Dooley called for a special prosecutor, saying that McCulloch is "biased and shouldn't handle the case". Democratic politicians said that the investigation should be conducted by a higher authority than the local prosecutor officer because of a poor history of prosecuting law enforcement officers in controversial cases, and said that McCulloch should withdraw.

FBI investigation

On August 11, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened a civil rights investigation into the incident, and United States Attorney General Eric Holder instructed the Justice Department's staff to monitor developments. According to the spokeswoman for the FBI's St. Louis field office, the protests and riots played no role in the FBI's decision to investigate.

On August 16, Ron Johnson, a captain in the Missouri State Highway Patrol, said there were 40 FBI agents going door-to-door looking for potential witnesses that may have information about the shooting. Additionally, the Justice Department confirmed that attorneys from its Civil Rights Division and from the United States Attorney's Office were participating in the investigation.

On October 17, The New York Times reported FBI forensics test results showing that Wilson's gun was fired twice in his vehicle. One bullet struck Brown's arm and one missed. Brown's blood was found on the gun, on the interior door panel, and on Wilson's uniform. The unidentified officials, who spoke on terms of anonymity, claimed that this physical evidence "lent credence" to Wilson's version of events.

Department of Justice investigations

On August 13, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Richard G. Callahan, announced a civil rights investigation into the case.

On August 17, Attorney General Holder authorized an additional autopsy of Brown by a federal medical examiner. A spokesperson for the Justice Department cited "the extraordinary circumstances involved in this case" and a request by the Brown family for the autopsy.

On September 4, the Justice Department announced plans to investigate the Ferguson police department for possible civil rights violations. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division will conduct a "pattern and practice" investigation that will review overall police department policies.

Robbery incident report and video release

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson at the news conference

On August 15, Ferguson Police Chief Jackson released a report of a strong-arm robbery by Michael Brown of a convenience store, along with a surveillance video of the incident. Brown was accompanied by his friend Dorian Johnson. The report and video were part of a packet that included information about the shooting afterwards. The report stated that the convenience store's surveillance footage showed Brown grabbing a box of cigars, followed by an "apparent struggle or confrontation" between Brown and a store clerk. Freeman Bosley, the attorney for Dorian Johnson, confirmed that Brown and Johnson had entered the store and cigarillos were taken, and that Johnson had informed the authorities of this fact. Chief Jackson said that Johnson would not be charged in the robbery because he did not steal anything or use force.

The Department of Justice had urged the video not be released, saying a release would inflame tension. When asked why the police department released the video, Jackson said that he did so in response to a large number of requests. Ferguson City Attorney Stephanie Karr later said that the release was to comply with the statutory deadline in the "Sunshine Law", which was Missouri's equivalent of the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The Huffington Post said that The Blot magazine reported that Jackson lied about the reasons for the tape release. The Huffington Post later printed a response from City Attorney Karr that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had requested "all documentation concerning the events leading up to and including the shooting of Michael Brown" including "video retained by the police department" and that Judicial Watch had requested "all records relating to Michael Brown" dated August 1 through August 9. Salon disputed "that information about the robbery was released because of media requests." KPLR Channel 11 reporter Mandy Murphey had said on camera, when the video was released, that she had requested it. ABC News had also asked for any video and audio recordings associated with the death of Brown.

Jackson responded to questions about the release of the video, with a statement issued by a public relations firm, which said that the police department "had indeed received numerous requests for video footage that showed the strong-arm robbery that preceded the unfortunate incident involving Michael Brown […] Providing a clear, concise picture of the situation was all the police department was seeking in releasing the robbery footage on August 15th."

Jackson drew criticism for his department’s release of information, which was described by the Associated Press as "infrequent" and "erratic".

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon criticized the release of the robbery video as an "attempt in essence to disparage the character [of Brown] in the middle of a process" and said that it inflamed the community.

Reactions

"Hands up! Don't shoot!" signs displayed at Ferguson protests

A makeshift memorial placed during protests

The family of Michael Brown released a statement in which they condemn the way the police chief chose to disseminate information, which they said it was "intended to assassinate the character of their son, following such a brutal assassination of his person in broad daylight", and "there is nothing based on the facts that have been placed before us that can justify the execution style murder of their child by this police officer as he held his hands up, which is the universal sign of surrender."

Anthony Rothert, the legal director for the Missouri branch of the ACLU, who had sued for the release of the incident report describing Brown's shooting, told ABC News in response to the report that "I think it's fair to say that releasing some records, but not releasing others when they're equally public record seems to be an intentional effort to distract the public. They're hiding it for whatever reason ... That leaves the public to imagine why that's being hidden."

Wayne Fisher, a professor with the Rutgers University Police Institute in New Jersey, said that "if the robbery in any way caused the initial contact, it has relevance ... if it didn't, it has none. The use of deadly force in this situation will be authorized if the officer reasonably believed his life was in danger, that question does not appear to be directly related to whether or not Brown was a suspect in a robbery." Eugene O'Donnell, a former district attorney in New York City who now serves as a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that while the police officer may have stopped Brown for jaywalking, Brown may have been thinking the officer knew about the robbery: "Obviously the cop's reaction is not affected, but what could be affected is [Brown's] reaction to the cop."

Daniel Isom II, a retired St. Louis police chief who now teaches at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, was critical of Jackson's leadership, saying that: "It's clear the Ferguson chief is overwhelmed by the magnitude of this incident. He has been releasing information as he sees appropriate, but maybe not taking into consideration the impact of releasing that information."

Six weeks after the incident, the City of Ferguson released a video in which Jackson apologized to Brown’s family for taking too long to remove Brown’s body from the street, and to any peaceful protesters who felt he had not done enough to protect their exercise of their constitutional rights. Jackson said, "For any mistakes I’ve made, I take full responsibility." He also said that he was truly sorry for the Browns' loss of their son. An attorney for Brown's family responded that the apology came at a time when trust in Jackson had "reached an irreversible low".

Audio recording of gunshots

On August 27, CNN released an audio recording which purportedly contains the sounds of the shooting. In a statement from his lawyer, a man whose identity has not been revealed claims to have been recording a video-text message at the time of the shooting. The twelve-second recording contains a series of shots, a short pause, and then a second series of shots. CNN's audio expert Paul Ginsberg says he heard six shots, a pause, and then four additional shots. Ginsberg said, "I was very concerned about that pause ... because it's not just the number of gunshots, it's how they're fired. And that has a huge relevance on how this case might finally end up." Others, including the anonymous man's lawyer, say they can hear eleven shots.

CNN gave the recording to the FBI for analysis. Former LAPD officer David Klinger and Tom Fuentes, a CNN law enforcement analyst, raised concerns that the recording may have been manipulated or trimmed, citing the two-week delay between the shooting and the release of the audio. Fuentes noted that most accounts of the shooting say there was a single shot earlier in the incident near the vehicle that is not audible in the recording. Fuentes further stated that if the recording is authenticated, it can be used to bolster both sides of the argument of what happened during the shooting. On August 28, Glide, a video messaging service, confirmed that the audio had been recorded on their site at 12:02 p.m. on the day of the shooting.

The recording was analyzed by ShotSpotter, a company which developed technology to identify and locate urban gunshots in real time, using microphones mounted throughout a city. ShotSpotter could not verify, with available information, that the recording is of the Michael Brown shooting. The company did say that it is the sound of ten gunshots within less than seven seconds, with a three-second pause after the sixth shot. It also said that all ten rounds were fired from within a three-foot (1 m) radius—that the shooter was not moving. It identified seven additional sounds as echoes of gunshots.

Physical evidence

According to several people involved with the investigation, blood spatter analysis indicated that Brown was heading toward the officer during their face-off, but Brown's movement rate could not be determined from the evidence. The location of shell casings and ballistics tests were also consistent with Wilson's account.

Blood was found on Wilson's gun and inside the car, and tissue from Brown was found on the exterior of the driver's side of Wilson's vehicle, consistent with a struggle at that location. The blood on Wilson's gun indicated that Brown's hand had been very close to the weapon when it was fired, consistent with Wilson's testimony that there had been a struggle over the weapon.

According to the evidence presented to the grand jury, the crime scene extends approximately 184 feet (56 m) along west-to-east direction of Canfield Drive. The locations of the evidence on the roadway are scattered but clustered into three areas. The 30-foot (9.1 m) western area includes a police vehicle, bracelets, a baseball cap, the left side of sandals, and two .40 caliber spent casings. A spent casing is located at the western most point, and the other casing is located near the rear driver side of the police vehicle. There are also two groups of red strains on driver side of the vehicle. The center area, which is approximately 44 feet (13 m) east of the western area, contains the right side of the sandals. The eastern area, which is approximately 80 feet (24 m) east from the center area, comprises Brown’s body, many casings and one apparent projectile. Within this 29 feet (8.8 m) area, Brown’s body is located in the western half with his head in the direction toward the west. There are also seven casings and one apparent projectile in the western half. The eastern half includes two groups of red strains in roadway and three casings.

Autopsies

Three autopsies have been performed on Brown's body. All three noted that Brown had been shot at least six times, including twice in the head, with no shots in the back.

County autopsy

The local medical examiner autopsy report released to state prosecutors said that Brown was shot in the front part of his body. When Mary Case, the St. Louis County medical examiner, was asked to provide details, she declined to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation into Brown's death. The official county autopsy was later leaked to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The narrative report of investigation from the office of the medical examiner of St. Louis agreed with Wilson's testimony. It noted that Brown had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head, torso, and right arm, as well as a single gunshot wound to the inside of his right hand "near his thumb and palm"; it also noted that Brown's body had abrasions to the right side of his face and on the back of his left hand.

The autopsy noted the absence of stippling, powder burns around a wound which indicate that a shot was fired at a relatively short range; however, Dr. Michael Graham, the St. Louis medical examiner, notes that gunshot wounds within an inch of the body do not always cause stippling. Microscopic examination of tissue taken from the thumb wound detected the presence of a foreign material consistent with the material which is ejected from a gun while firing. Forensic pathologist Dr. Judy Melinek was quoted in the article as saying the hand wound was consistent with Brown reaching for the gun at the time he was shot. Melinek was also quoted as saying that the autopsy did not support witnesses who claimed that Brown was shot while fleeing the crime scene or with his hands up, noting that the direction of the gunshot wound on Brown's forearm indicated that Brown's palms could not have been facing Wilson.

However, Melinek later disputed the Dispatch's version of her interview. She claimed in an Interview with Lawrence O'Donnell that she never said that the autopsy supported only Wilson's version of events. Melinek said "I'm not saying that Brown going for the gun is the only explanation. I'm saying the officer said he was going for the gun and the right thumb wound supports that," she said, according to MSNBC. "I have limited information. It could also be consistent with other scenarios. That's the important thing. That's why the witnesses need to speak to the grand jury and the grand jury needs to hear all the unbiased testimony and compare those statements to the physical evidence". http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/10/22/7039599/mike-brown-autopsy-ferguson-missouri-darren-wilson

The gunshot wound to the top of Brown's head was consistent with Brown either falling forward or being in a lunging position; the shot was instantly fatal.

A toxicology test performed by a St. Louis University laboratory revealed the presence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in Brown's blood and urine. The presence of THC indicates that Brown had used marijuana within a few hours of his death, but it could not be determined whether or not Brown was impaired at the time of his death.

Independent autopsy

On August 17, a preliminary autopsy was conducted by Dr. Michael Baden, the former chief medical examiner for the City of New York, at the request of the family. According to the report, Brown was shot six times into his front: four of the bullets entered his right arm, one entered his right eye on a downward trajectory, and one entered the top of his skull. According to Baden, all of the rounds were fired from a distance of at least one to two feet. Baden stated, "This one here looks like his head was bent downward, it can be because he's giving up, or because he's charging forward at the officer."

One of the shots to Brown's head shattered his right eye, traveled through his face, then exited his jaw and reentered his collarbone. The shot that entered the top of Brown's skull caused the fatal injury, according to Baden. Baden also provided a diagram of the entry wounds, noting that the six shots produced multiple wounds, with some of the bullets entering and exiting several times. He also said that Brown could have survived the first bullet wounds, but the bullet that entered the top of his head resulted in a fatal injury.

Baden had no access to the clothing of the victim, and had not yet seen the x-rays showing where bullets were in the body. He could not determine if any gunpowder residue was on that clothing. He stated that, "Right now there is too little information to forensically reconstruct the shooting," and that, in his capacity as the forensic examiner for the New York State Police, he would have said, "You're not supposed to shoot so many times." At least two commentators have noted that the autopsy contradicts some aspects of some eyewitness accounts, including that Wilson shot Brown in the back and that Wilson shot Brown while holding Brown's neck.

In later analysis, Baden reclassified one of Brown's chest wounds as an entry wound.

Dr. Baden was assisted by Shawn Parcells, who does not have a degree or other credentials in medicine or pathology. Dr. Thomas Young, former Jackson County Medical Examiner, said that Parcells is giving out forensic pathology opinions when he is not qualified to do so. Dr. Mary Case, who performed the initial autopsy, said that Parcells' involvement could cause issues with the second autopsy. Parcells says that all he did was assist Dr. Baden.

Brown's body was washed and embalmed after the first autopsy, which may have impacted the results of the second autopsy.

Federal autopsy

Attorney General Eric Holder ordered a third autopsy of Michael Brown. On August 19, military coroners released the autopsy results to federal authorities showing that Brown was shot six times, but declined to release additional details until the federal investigation is concluded.

Grand jury hearing

On August 20, a county grand jury started hearing evidence in the shooting of Brown in order to decide "whether a crime was committed and whether there is probable cause to believe the defendant committed it".

The members were impaneled in May 2014 a few months before the shooting and included three African-American citizens (one man and two women) and nine Caucasians (six men and three women), which roughly corresponded to the "racial makeup" of St. Louis County. Requests for more information about the jurors were denied by the judge.

The St. Louis County prosecutor, Robert McCulloch, said the state will finish presenting evidence to the grand jury "hopefully by the middle of October ... If necessary, this grand jury can keep meeting until January 7, 2015." The prosecutor's office said that all the evidence in the case will eventually be made public if there is no indictment. Court administrator Paul Fox, on November 23, 2014, released a memorandum stating that he had been inaccurately quoted in a St. Louis-Post Dispatch article which ran the same day. According to the court administrator, Judge Carolyn Whittington must analyze any records in the case before granting a motion to make them public, and this analysis cannot be conducted before the grand jury makes a final determination.

Prosecutor McCulloch had the authority to bypass the grand jury and take the case to a preliminary hearing, but he chose to present all the evidence to the grand jury, leaving to jurors the decision of what charges might be brought, if any. His spokesperson acknowledged that it is "unusual" that the prosecutor is not asking the grand jury to endorse a specific charge.

On August 21, State Senator Jamilah Nasheed presented a petition with 70,000 signatures calling for McCulloch's recusal, based on the close relationship between the St. Louis County prosecutor and the police department, citing also accusations that McCulloch did not file charges, as he should have, against two undercover officers who shot and killed two unarmed black men in 2000, and other controversies.

Media reports characterized Prosecutor McCulloch as "not impartial," as his father was a police officer killed in an incident with an African-American suspect, while his mother, brother, uncle, and cousin had all served with the St. Louis Police Department; Newsweek reported McCulloch's "long history of siding with the police."

On September 16, police officer Wilson testified before the grand jury for more than four hours, and according to sources with knowledge of the investigation Wilson was "cooperative". Wilson was not obligated to testify. The transcript of Wilson's testimony from September 16, 2014, was released after the grand jury's decision was announced.

The grand jury was presented evidence that resulted in 24 volumes totaling more than 5,000 pages of testimony from 60 witnesses over the course of three months.

On November 17, Governor Nixon declared a state of emergency and activated the Missouri National Guard prior to the grand jury decision.

On November 24, Prosecutor McCulloch reported in a 20-minute press conference that the grand jury reached a decision in the case and elected "not to indict Wilson."

Ben Casselman, economics writer for FiveThirtyEight, said it is "incredibly rare" for a grand jury not to indict except in cases where "a police officer is involved." He added that "in high-profile cases such as police shootings, (prosecutors) may feel public pressure to bring charges even if they think they have a weak case."

Following the grand jury announcement, protests, some of them violent, broke out in Ferguson and other cities across the United States. Several Ferguson businesses were looted and fires set by protesters. Protests erupted in cities across the US including, St Louis, Philadelphia, Seattle, Albuquerque, New York, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Oakland, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Portland, Chicago and Boston.

Controversy

Legal experts asserted that McCulloch deflected responsibility for failing to indict Wilson, and created conditions in which the grand jury would not indict him either. Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., director of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard University, said that "As a strategic move, it was smart; he got what he wanted without being seen as directly responsible for the result, and called the case "the most unusual marshaling of a grand jury's resources I've seen in my 25 years as a lawyer and scholar." The New Yorker's legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, accused McCulloch for implementing "a document dump, an approach that is virtually without precedent in the law of Missouri or anywhere else". Other legal experts chided McCulloch for not challenging Wilson's account of the shooting.

Ben Trachtenberg, a University of Missouri law professor, stated that it was unusual for McCulloch to provide such an overwhelming amount of evidence, and stopped short of saying that the did so in order to keep the grand jury from charging Wilson, as usually a grand jury get to assess much less evidence before being asked to indict given that all what needs to be proved is probable cause.

James A. Cohen, a law professor at Fordham University, said that "[McCulloch] did worse than abdicate his responsibility: He structured the presentation so the jurors would vote no true bill". Cohen further asserted that there was "an enormous disconnect between how the officer describes the events in his car versus the 'injuries' he suffered", which McCulloch's accepted without applying the necessary forensic rigor, and that if Wilson feared for his life as he testified, he could have stayed in the car and not pursue Brown.

According to the New York Times, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was critical of McCulloch's long presentation and invoking his name during the press conference, as well as the poor timing late at night, which may have played a part on the unrest that followed.

Aftermath in Ferguson

August 15 protests in Ferguson

Clashes between police and protesters

A looted and burned gas station in Ferguson

Police sharpshooter atop a SWAT vehicle during protests at Ferguson

Main article: 2014 Ferguson unrest

Peaceful protests and civil disorder broke out the day following Brown's shooting and lasted for several days. As the details of the original shooting event emerged from investigators, police grappled with establishing curfews and maintaining order, while members of the Ferguson community demonstrated in various ways in the vicinity of the original shooting. On August 10, a day of memorials began peacefully, but some crowd members became unruly after an evening candlelight vigil. Local police stations assembled approximately 150 officers in riot gear. Some people began looting businesses, vandalizing vehicles, and confronting police officers who sought to block off access to several areas of the city.

Widespread media coverage examined the post-9/11 trend of local police departments arming themselves with military-grade weapons when dealing with protests.

In late August, Ferguson police officers began wearing body-mounted video cameras donated by Safety Visions and Digital Ally. Fifty cameras were donated and a camera made available to each officer.

On October 18, 2014, an altercation between Michael Brown's relatives over the sale of merchandise bearing Brown's likeness resulted in Michael Brown's cousin being beaten with a metal pipe or pole and taken to the hospital for treatment. A witness reported that merchandise and about $1,400 in cash were taken in the course of the incident.

On November 25, the body of a man was found inside a parked car within a few blocks of where Brown was killed.

Reactions

Federal government

• August 12 – President Obama offered his condolences to Brown's family and community. He stated that the Department of Justice was investigating the situation along with local officials.
• August 14 – In an op-ed in Time Magazine, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said that police forces need to be demilitarized and that "the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown is an awful tragedy" and that "anyone who thinks race does not skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention."
• August 16 – Lacy Clay, the U.S. congressman who represents Ferguson, stated that he had "absolutely no confidence in the Ferguson police, the county prosecutor" to conduct a fair investigation into Brown's death. Clay suggested that the police had released the information about the robbery in order to "negatively influence a jury pool in St. Louis County" and to "assassinate Michael Brown's character". On August 17, Clay called for "a national conversation about how police forces should interact with the African-American community".
• August 18 – President Obama announced that the Department of Justice had launched an independent, federal civil rights investigation into Brown's death.
• August 22 – Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in an interview with The National Law Journal that the events at Ferguson and the stop-and-frisk policies in New York City point to a "real racial problem" in the U.S.
• September 4 – Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department will investigate Ferguson police force for possible misconduct or discrimination, saying that, "[w]e have determined that there is cause for the Justice Department to open an investigation to determine whether Ferguson police officials have engaged in a pattern or practice of violations of the U.S. constitution or federal law."

State government

Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ronald Johnson was asked to take over policing of Ferguson, as a tactical shift to reduce the violence

• August 15 – Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Missouri state senator who represented parts of Ferguson and was tear-gassed during the demonstrations, said in an interview, "It doesn't matter if Michael Brown committed theft or not. That's not the issue. The issue is what happened when Darren Wilson encountered Michael Brown, and when he died—when he was killed. Those are the only facts that are necessary."
• August 19 – Governor Nixon demanded "a vigorous prosecution" of Officer Wilson, a comment that elicited widespread criticism. His Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder condemned Nixon's comment, stating, "It's really heartbreaking to see a man elected to an office that high in our state government, the chief executive of Missouri state government, come out with a statement like that that does prejudge the case." Peter Joy, director of the Washington University School of Law's Criminal Justice Clinic, said that it is highly unusual for an elected official to demand an individual's prosecution.

Third parties

A speech held inside the local church, August 15

Protesters gather at the Ferguson police department

• August 10 – Reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network announced their plans to travel to St. Louis.
• August 10 – Local pastors held a vigil on Sunday morning. Another vigil was planned on the same day, at 8:00 p.m. in the area where Brown was killed.
• August 13 – A petition was created on We the People, a petitioning system on the official White House website, calling for a federal law requiring police officers to wear body-mounted video cameras while on duty. As of September 1, the petition had more than 150,000 signatures, exceeding the threshold of 100,000 signatures required for an official response from the White House.
• August 13 – A fundraising webpage was created for Michael Brown's family.
• A similar online fundraising drive for Wilson achieved its desired goal of US$235,000 within four days and was followed by one for Wilson in association with a tax-deductible charity.
• August 14 – National vigils and marches occurred on Thursday evening, in over 100 cities around the U.S., with thousands in attendance. They were organized by @FeministaJones, using Twitter and the #NMOS14 hashtag.
• Hacktivists claiming an association with Anonymous and operating under the codename "Operation Ferguson" organized cyberprotests by setting up a website and a Twitter account. The group promised that if any protesters were harassed or harmed, they would attack the city's servers and computers, taking them offline. City officials said that e-mail systems were targeted and phones died, while the Internet crashed at the City Hall. Prior to August 15, members of Anonymous corresponding with Mother Jones said that they were working on confirming the identity of the police officer who shot Brown and would release his name as soon as they did. On August 14, Anonymous posted on its Twitter feed what it claimed was the name of the officer involved in the shooting. However, police said the identity released by Anonymous was incorrect. Twitter subsequently suspended the Anonymous account from its service.
• August 17 – A group of Tibetan monks joined the protesters in Ferguson on Sunday.
• August 17 – About 150 people protested in downtown St. Louis in support of Darren Wilson. The protesters said that Wilson had been victimized and that any punishment for him would cause law enforcement officers to be "frightened to do their jobs".
• August 17 – Cornell Brooks, the president of the NAACP, called for a special prosecutor in the case, saying that was needed to restore credibility with Ferguson's black community.
• August 18 – Pew Research published the results of a poll conducted August 14–17 among 1,000 adults, which found stark racial and political divisions in reactions to the shooting. By about four-to-one (80% to 18%), African-Americans said the shooting raised important issues about race, while whites, by 47% to 37%, said the issue of race is getting more attention than it deserves. The divide in public opinion was also observed across partisan lines, with 68% of Democrats (including 62% of white Democrats) saying they believe the incident raises important issues about race that merit discussion, while 61% of Republicans said the issue of race has gotten too much attention. Republicans were also more likely than Democrats to view the police response to as appropriate (43%), compared with 56% of Democrats who said police response went too far. Sixty-five percent of Republicans expressed confidence in the investigations into the incident, compared with 38% of Democrats.
• August 28 – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke out, calling for the country to address "inequities" in the criminal justice system.
• November 19 – It was reported that Anonymous had declared cyber war on the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) the previous week, after the KKK had made death threats following the Ferguson riots. They hacked the KKK's Twitter account, attacked servers hosting KKK sites, and started to release the personal details of members.

International

See also: 2014 Ferguson unrest § International reactions

Amnesty International (AI) sent a team of human rights observers, trainers, and researchers to Ferguson. It was the first time the organization deployed such a team in the United States. In a press release, AI USA director Steven W. Hawkins said, "The U.S. cannot continue to allow those obligated and duty-bound to protect to become those who their community fears most." On October 24, AI published a report declaring human rights abuses in Ferguson. The report cited the use of lethal force in Brown's death, racial discrimination and excessive use of police force, imposition of restrictions on the rights to protest, intimidation of protesters, the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and long range acoustic devices, restrictions imposed on the media covering the protests, and lack of accountability for law enforcement policing protests.

Various heads of state and foreign news organizations have commented on the shooting and subsequent protests including the Chinese Xinhua News Agency, Germany's Der Spiegel, Egypt's Ministry of Foreign affairs, the Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency, protesters throughout the Middle East, the Russian Foreign Ministry, Spain's El Mundo, the British Metro, and others.

Funeral

Brown's funeral was hosted at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, in St. Louis on Monday, August 25 at 10:00 a.m. The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity paid the entire costs for the memorial and funeral services. At a rally held the day before, Brown's family asked that supporters suspend their protests for one day out of respect for the funeral proceedings.

The service was attended by an estimated 4,500 people, including three White House officials: Broderick Johnson, head of the White House's "My Brother's Keeper Task Force"; Marlon Marshall, who attended high school with Brown's mother; and Heather Foster, who works in the Office of Public Engagement. Al Sharpton delivered one of two eulogies.

See also

• Death of Eric Garner
• List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States
• List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United States, August 2014
• Shooting of Amadou Diallo
• Shooting of Trayvon Martin
• Shooting of Tamir Rice

External links

• Surveillance video that police contend shows Michael Brown robbing a convenience store.
• Police Department incident report of contemporaneous convenience store robbery
• Compilation of witness-statement video clips, by the Huffington Post
• Video taken by Piaget Crenshaw of crime scene just after the shooting incident. (Interview by CNN)
• Michael Brady interview with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell
• Social media posts from scene of Ferguson shooting, curated by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• Video interview of eyewitness Dorian Johnson on CNN
• Video of St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar giving his department's version of the circumstances and events that led to the death of Michael Brown
• Video interview of eyewitness Tiffany Mitchell on CNN
• Video interview of an unnamed eyewitness discussing the events that ended in vandalism, looting, and burning of Quik Trip store.
• Rachel Maddow interview with City Alderman, Antonio French the day after his arrest in Ferguson on charges of disorderly conduct
• Documents from the Ferguson grand jury