FERGUSON, Mo. — Police on Friday identified the officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager 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 teen was a robbery suspect at the time of the shooting and stopped Michael Brown and a companion “because they were walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic.”
Darren Wilson, 28, has been an officer in suburban St. Louis for six years, Jackson said.
Brown’s relatives immediately questioned whether the officer really believed Brown was a suspect and said no robbery would justify shooting the teen after he put his hands up.
The family’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, said Brown’s parents were blindsided by the allegations.
“It’s bad enough they assassinated him, and now they’re trying to assassinate his character,” Crump said.
An attorney for the teen who was with Brown on the day of the shooting said his client has acknowledged to investigators that Brown took cigars from the store.
Wilson has been on administrative leave since the Aug. 9 shooting.
Jackson described Wilson as “a gentle, quiet man” who had been “an excellent officer.” He’s been on the Ferguson force for four years. Prior to that, he patrolled in the neighboring community of Jennings, Jackson said.
At 11:51 a.m. on the day of the shooting, police records show, authorities received a 911 call 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 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 either on the street or at the Quik Trip, the reports said.
The robber took a box of Swisher Sweets Cigars valued at $48.99, according to the reports. The suspects were identified as 18-year-old Michael Brown and 22-year-old Dorian Johnson.
Separately, Wilson had been responding to a nearby call involving a sick 2-month 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.
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 inside 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 fatally shot by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was later acquitted of murder.
The Aug. 9 video appears to show a man wearing a ball cap, shorts and 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 “did take 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 lighted, 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.
But 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.
Dorian 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.