After days of demonstrations over an officer shooting an unarmed man, police said the man who was shot was suspected of robbery that happened just before the shooting.
An incident report said surveillance cameras captured video of Michael Brown going into a convenience store in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, just before noon Saturday, August 9, 2014. Brown is seen handing a box of Swisher Sweets to Dorian Johnson and then “an apparent struggle or confrontation seems to take place with Brown” and a store clerk, the report said.
Johnson reportedly returned the cigars to the counter. The clerk then tried to stop him when Brown allegedly tried to leave the store with a box of Swisher Sweets in his hand.
The report said another confrontation ensued, during which “Brown, still holding a box (of) Swisher Sweets in his right hand, grabs (the clerk) by the shirt with his left hand. Brown aggressively pulls (the clerk) in close to him and then immediately pushes him back in to a display rack. Johnson continues out the door and out of camera frame. (The clerk), no longer between Brown and the door, stops and watches Brown as he walks towards the exit door. Brown then abruptly turns back around and advances on (the clerk). Brown towers over (the clerk) appearing to intimidate him. Brown then turns back around and walks out of camera view.”
Officer Darren Wilson was one of the officers who responded to the area after a dispatcher gave a description of the store robbery suspect over the police radio.
During a confrontation between Wilson and Brown, Brown was fatally shot. Some witnesses had reported seeing Brown with his hands in the air at the time he was shot; police said the shooting was part of a struggle between Brown and Wilson over Wilson’s service weapon.
