FERGUSON, Mo. — Police on Friday identified the officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager on Aug. 9, and released documents alleging the young man had been suspected of stealing a $48.99 box of cigars from a convenience store in a “strong-arm” robbery shortly before he was killed.
Police Chief Thomas Jackson said the officer did not know the teenager was a robbery suspect at the time of the shooting, but stopped Michael Brown and a companion “because they were walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic.”
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Below is a timeline of the shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9 in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri. The times are taken from documents provided by the Ferguson Police Department, including dispatch logs and an incident report on a robbery at a convenience store.
11:48 a.m. – Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson arrives at a residence in response to an unrelated call about a 2-month-old child having difficulty breathing.
11:51 – Ferguson police receive a call of a robbery in progress at the Ferguson Market convenience store.
11:54 – A different, unidentified officer arrives at the Ferguson Market and gets a description from an employee and customer of a suspect who took some cigars.
11:57 – A police dispatcher broadcasts a detailed description of the robbery suspect, saying he was wearing a red (St. Louis) Cardinals ball cap and yellow socks and was walking with another man toward another convenience store called QuikTrip.
Noon – Officer Wilson leaves the scene of the call about a sick child.
12:01 p.m. – Officer Wilson encounters Michael Brown walking on a street and the shooting follows. Police Chief Tom Jackson said Friday that Wilson did not know about the robbery at the convenience store when he encountered Brown.
12:04 p.m. – Another officer arrives after the shooting, and an ambulance is contacted to treat Brown’s wounds.
Darren Wilson, a 28-year-old white officer, has patrolled suburban St. Louis for six years and had no complaints filed against him, Jackson said.
Brown’s relatives said no robbery would justify shooting the teenager after he put his hands up. Family attorneys said Brown’s parents were blindsided by the allegations and the release of a surveillance video from the convenience store.
“It appears to be him,” said attorney Daryl Parks, referring to the footage, which he said was released without any advance notice from police.
The police chief described Wilson as “a gentle, quiet man” who had been “an excellent officer.” He has been on the Ferguson force for four years and served before that in the neighboring community of Jennings.
Wilson, who was put on administrative leave after the shooting, “never intended for any of this to happen,” Jackson said.
According to police reports released Friday, authorities received a 911 call at 11:51 a.m. on the day of the shooting, reporting a robbery at the Ferguson Market. An unidentified officer was dispatched to the store, arriving within three minutes. The officer interviewed an employee and a customer, who gave a description of a man who stole the cigars and walked off with another man toward a QuikTrip store.
Descriptions of the suspect were broadcast over the police radio. The officer did not find the suspects on the street or at the Quik Trip, the reports said.
The robber took a box of Swisher Sweets, a brand of small, inexpensive cigars. The suspects were identified as 18-year-old Michael Brown and 22-year-old Dorian Johnson, according to the reports.
Separately, Wilson had been responding to a nearby call involving a sick 2-month-old child from 11:48 am until noon, when he left that place. A minute later, he encountered Michael Brown walking down Canfield Drive. The documents contained no description of what happened between Brown and Wilson.
Another family attorney, Benjamin Crump, noted that police did not release a photo of the officer but released images from the store’s security video that they say show Brown grabbing a man in the store. Crump said he had not seen the photos.
Police “are choosing to disseminate information that is very strategic to try to help them justify the execution-style” killing, said Crump, who also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, the teenager in Florida who was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch organizer, who was later acquitted of murder.
The Aug. 9 video appears to show a man wearing a ball cap, shorts and a white T-shirt grabbing a much shorter man by his shirt near the store’s door. A police report alleges that Brown grabbed the man who had come from behind the store counter and “forcefully pushed him back” into a display rack.
Johnson, Brown’s friend, told investigators that Brown took cigarillos, his attorney, Freeman Bosley, told MSNBC. Bosley said he was aware of video but had not seen it.
Police have determined that Johnson was not involved in the robbery and will not seek charges against him, Jackson said.
Brown’s uncle, Bernard Ewing, questioned whether Wilson really believed Brown was a suspect. He referred to Johnson’s account that the officer’s only command to the two young men was to get out of the street.
“If he’s a robbery suspect, they would have had the lights on,” Ewing said. “If you rob somebody, you would tell them, ‘Get on the ground’ or something, not, ‘Get off the sidewalk.”‘
A robbery “still doesn’t justify shooting him when he puts his hands up,” he added. “You still don’t shoot him in the face.”
Brown’s death ignited four days of clashes with furious protesters. The tension eased Thursday after the governor turned oversight of the protests over to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Within hours, the mood on the street lightened, with state troopers walking side-by-side with peaceful protesters and no hint of violence. Gone were the police in riot gear and armored vehicles, pointing assault rifles at protesters and firing tear gas into crowds.
Friday’s announcement by the police chief was met with disbelief and anger by several dozen Ferguson residents who also attended the news conference, which was hastily held at a gas station burned during a night of looting earlier in the week.
“He stopped the wrong one, bottom line,” yelled Tatinisha Wheeler, a nurse’s aide at the news conference.
A couple of dozen protesters began marching, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot” and “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”
Police have said Brown was shot after an officer encountered him and another man on the street during a routine patrol. They say one of the men pushed the officer into his squad car, then physically assaulted him in the vehicle and struggled with the officer over the officer’s weapon. At least one shot was fired inside the car before the struggle spilled onto the street, where Brown was shot multiple times, according to police.
Johnson has told reporters a different story. He said an officer ordered him and Brown onto the sidewalk, then grabbed his friend’s neck and tried to pull him into the car before brandishing his weapon and firing. He said Brown started to run and the officer pursued him, firing multiple times.
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