Michael Brown lay dead in the street after being gunned down by a police officer
This past weekend, 18-year-old African American,
Michael Brown, was gunned down and killed by a police officer in
Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting took place on a public street in
front of horrified onlookers, who state the teen was unarmed and had
his hands in the air in submission and surrender.
The family of Michael Brown and attorney Benjamin Crump, who
represented the family of slain, innocent Miami teen, Trayvon Martin
One witness stated of the victim to the Associated
Press, "'He was giving up in the sense of raising his arms and being
subdued. The officer 'had his gun raised and started shooting the
individual in the chest multiple times.' The officer then 'stood
over him and shot him' after the victim fell wounded."
Shop owner cleans up after riots
The killing led to riots in Ferguson, as the public
cried police brutality and racism in Brown's slaying. There were
also peaceful protests and a candlelight vigil held in Brown's
honor. An investigation is currently underway regarding the
circumstances of the shooting. There is no justification for
shooting an unarmed person, who had surrendered. That was an
extrajudicial execution forbidden by law.
Witnesses: Teen had hands raised when he was shot
Aug. 11, 2014 8:00 PM EDT - FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A
black teenager who was fatally shot by a police officer had his
hands raised when the officer approached with his weapon drawn and
fired repeatedly, according to two men who said they witnessed the
shooting that sparked a night of unrest in suburban St. Louis.
The FBI opened an investigation Monday into the
death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who police said was shot
multiple times Saturday after being confronted by an officer in
Ferguson, a suburb of 21,000 that's nearly 70 percent black.
Authorities were vague about exactly what led the
officer to open fire, except to say that the shooting was preceded
by a scuffle of some kind with a man. It was unclear whether Brown
or the man he was with was involved in the altercation.
Investigators have refused to publicly disclose the
race of the officer, who is now on administrative leave. But Phillip
Walker said he was on the porch of an apartment complex overlooking
the scene when he heard a shot and saw a white officer with Brown on
the street.
Brown "was giving up in the sense of raising his
arms and being subdued," Walker told The Associated Press on Monday.
The officer "had his gun raised and started shooting the individual
in the chest multiple times." The officer then "stood over him and
shot him" after the victim fell wounded.
Dorian Johnson offered a similar account when he
told WALB-TV that he and Brown were walking home from a convenience
store when a police officer told them to get out of the street and
onto the sidewalk. Johnson said they kept walking, which caused the
officer to confront them from his car and again after getting out of
the vehicle.
Johnson said the first time the officer fired, he
and Brown got scared and ran away. "He shot again, and once my
friend felt that shot, he turned around and put his hands in the
air, and he started to get down," Johnson said. "But the officer
still approached with his weapon drawn and fired several more
shots." "We wasn't causing harm to nobody," Johnson said. "We had no
weapons on us at all." Walker said that he did not see a scuffle or
the circumstances that preceded the first gunshot...
