Police: Shot teen was a suspect in robbery
Print Edition
AUTHORITIES named Darren Wilson as the police officer who killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, last weekend, saying the officer had a good record and the incident came in the aftermath of a robbery in which the teen was a suspect.
Wilson, who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown last Saturday outside an apartment complex, had served six years on the force and had a good record, Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told a news conference yesterday.
Jackson said there had been a report of a robbery of cigars in a convenience store in the area a few minutes before Wilson encountered Brown walking down the street near an apartment complex. The robbery suspect had been described as a black male wearing a white T-shirt, according to police records Jackson released yesterday.
The deadly interaction was swift: Jackson said Wilson encountered Brown at 12:01pm and had shot him by 12:04pm.
About two dozen residents gathered at the news briefing by Jackson, and some were outraged that police suggested Brown was a robbery suspect when he was killed.
“I think it was the right thing to do releasing the officer’s name, but for them to say this is an armed robbery makes me think this is a cover up,” said Ferguson resident Milton Jackson, 37. “I don’t believe what the officer did was called for. Even if there was a robbery, it was unnecessary force to shoot an unarmed man.”
Protesters have expressed anger also over the fact that Brown’s bloodied body lay in the middle of a narrow residential street for several hours on August 9 after he was shot.
But Jackson said yesterday that several officers and an ambulance had responded quickly to the scene and “assessed” Brown. His body was not moved for hours because the scene was being investigated and recorded, authorities said.
Police had held back naming Wilson for nearly a week because of fears he could be harmed amid a volatile and violent week of angry protests that have followed Brown’s death.
Nixon told ABC News yesterday that the officer, who was placed on administrative leave after the shooting, would be protected against any possible retaliation.
Thousands of protesters demanding justice for Brown’s killing have clashed with riot gear-clad local police since Saturday, though there was a marked shift on Thursday to a calmer tone after the governor put an African-American Missouri Highway Patrol Captain in charge of security for the area.
Rather than confront protesters with riot gear, rubber bullets and tear gas, a small number of police mingled with the crowd on Thursday night, urging a healing to the racially charged situation.
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