On Saturday afternoon, a young man by the name of Mike Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, MO, a suburb of St. Louis. Brown, 18, had recently graduated high school and was scheduled to start classes at Vatterott College next week. Per witness accounts, Brown was walking down the middle of the street with a friend on the way to his grandmother’s home after visiting a local store. A police officer stopped both individuals and asked them to get out of the street and go on the sidewalk. The witness stated that Brown said he was almost to his grandmother’s and left it at that.
After the conversation, the police officer drove off, then stopped his car, backed it up and nearly hit the two teenagers. The officer then grabbed at Brown through the car window while the officer was still sitting in his vehicle. An altercation ensued where a shot may have been fired, according to the witness. Brown then got free and started to run away. He threw his hands up in the air before he was shot, showing he had no weapon. The police officer shot Brown multiple times despite Brown being unarmed and of no immediate threat. Per Brown’s mother, Brown was shot a total of eight times. Neighborhood residents were able to take photos of Brown’s corpse lying in the middle of the street before it was covered and removed.
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Young man with #MikeBrown tells NBC affiliate reporter that he was surrendering to police and had his hands up when he was shot.
— T.J. Holmes (@tjholmes) August 10, 2014
The local law enforcement’s take on the tragedy is naturally quite a bit different than eyewitness accounts. The Ferguson police department has turned the investigation over to St. Louis County. On Sunday morning, a press conference was held where Chief Jon Belmar provided some information that was gathered by the police department. Per the police officer at the scene, Brown physically assaulted the police officer and tried to reach for the officer’s gun. After a struggle, where the gun was fired at least once, Brown then attempted to flee the scene. It was at that time that the officer shot and killed Brown. Belmar did confirm that Brown was unarmed and that he was shot more than once. The police officer who shot Brown is on paid administrative leave.
The police department also issued a statement to the press regarding the investigation.
“In reference to the Ferguson Police Department shooting which occurred yesterday, we are investigating the incident like any other criminal investigation. There is no conflict of interest as none of our officers were involved and we have been asked to handle this investigation by Ferguson Police Department for that very reason.
“Chief Belmar and the St. Louis County Police will be conducting a full investigation. The results of our investigation will be forwarded to the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office who will decide on criminal charges.
“The FBI will be contacted today and notified of the incident. If they choose, they may conduct a separate use-of-force investigation on this incident directly with the Ferguson Police Department.
“We understand the response this incident has garnered and would like everyone to understand a lot of articles and replies have a lot of sensationalism spread throughout. We, like you, were not present when the incident occurred. We are investigating it and that is our only involvement with the shooting.
“We are sorry that a young man lost his life and ask all to give their condolences to the family along with their thoughts and prayers. We are investigating this incident as we would any other shooting. There is no bias or favoritism applied as we are an outside agency and were not involved.”
The reaction in the community reflected both anger and frustration. Dozens of residents gather near the scene and protested what they described as a vicious murder of an innocent young man at the hands of local law enforcement. Brown’s stepfather held a sign up saying his son was executed by Ferguson police. While emotionally charged, the protesters did not resort to any level of violence. Throughout the day and into the evening, many expressed their dissatisfaction and outrage in a peaceful manner. At one point, with the police officers in the neighborhood armed with shotguns, residents raised their hands en masse to make a statement regarding how Brown was shot.
A vigil for Brown is scheduled at 8 PM local time in Ferguson. Local protesters are also planning a march on the Ferguson police department on Monday morning and are asking for 10,000 people to join them in this march. I will be at the scene for both of these events and reports will follow shortly afterwards.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
