Missouri Governor Deploys National Guard to Ferguson; Autopsy Reveals Michael Brown Shot Six Times by Police
Another round of unrest begins on the streets of Ferguson, Mo., on Sunday night
Private autopsy shows Michael Brown was shot six times, including twice in the head
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon early Monday ordered the National Guard deployed to the town of Ferguson, where another night of violence saw police pelted with bottles and Molotov cocktails and looters rampaging through local businesses.
The executive order directs the resources of the National Guard “to help restore peace and order and to protect the citizens of Ferguson.”
“Tonight, a day of hope, prayers and peaceful protests was marred by the violent criminal acts of an organized and growing number of individuals, many from outside the community and state, whose actions are putting the residents and businesses of Ferguson at risk,” the governor said in a statement.
At least two people were shot and the governor’s statement said police were also fired upon in street protests that have escalated since the Aug. 9 shooting of an 18-year-old black youth, Michael Brown by a white police officer.
Police said there were signs of a pre-planned and coordinated attempt to disrupt the city and launch an advance on the police command post not far from the scene of the shooting.
“There were shootings, vandalism and other acts of violence that clearly appear not to have been spontaneous but premeditated criminal acts,” Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson told reporters early Sunday.
“The catalyst was not civil disobedience, but pre-planned agitation,” he said.
The new street eruptions came as a private autopsy revealed that Brown had been shot at least six times, including twice in the head.
Anthony Gray, an attorney for the Brown family, said a diagram provided by New York forensics expert Dr. Michael Baden, commissioned by the family to do an independent examination, revealed details of the bullets that struck Brown’s body during his Aug. 9 encounter with a white police officer.
The fact that one of the shots struck the top of Brown’s head, Gray said, was significant.
“To have a shot that’s at a 90-degree angle from the top of his skull to the bottom of his chin, almost vertical, that sounds like an officer standing over him,” Gray said.
Baden said his examination suggested that none of the six bullets was fired at point-blank range, but all were fired from at least one to two feet away.
“There’s no evidence of powder residue,” Baden said in a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Baden said two bullets struck Brown in the head: one in the forehead and one at the top of the head — fired at “a right angle to the top of the head.”
“The top of the head one was the one that would have made him unconscious and fall to the ground,” Baden said.
But it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from that, he said, without also considering witness statements and marks on Brown’s clothing. “The head is very movable, and it can be in a number of positions,” he said.
At least one of the wounds to Brown’s arm “could have been defensive,” Baden said.
Police say Brown had participated in a strong-arm robbery at a mini-mart shortly before his encounter with Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson.
Wilson, police said, was confronted by Brown inside his police car in a scuffle that led to the shooting. At least one witness who was accompanying Brown that afternoon has said Brown was shot as he walked away from the police officer with his hands raised, and then was hit with additional bullets.
The latest round of street clashes Sunday began about 9:30 p.m., as a large group of protesters began marching toward a shopping center where police have set up a command post.
Protesters held their hands aloft, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and police began lobbing smoke canisters and tear gas toward the marchers as they neared the command post and refused to back down.
Protesters fled at first, then held their ground in the middle of the street; a few protesters grabbed smoke canisters from the street and hurled them back at police. Large numbers of people found themselves unable to flee as police advanced in half a dozen military vehicles because the street was blocked by the crowd behind them.
“It’s unbelievable. This is something you would see on TV in a third-world country. Tear gas — I’ve never seen it escalate to that point,” said Martin McDonald, 38, a truck driver from the town of Florissant who joined the protests for the first time on Sunday.
Chris Hudson, 31, a construction worker, said he wished protesters would gather near the police station, instead of paralyzing a residential area.
“I feel like they’re taking advantage of the situation,” he said as stood on the side of the street, watching as police advanced in a cloud of gas.
“They should have let people be. It’s not even 12 yet,” said Nikki Chamberlain, 36, referring to the midnight-to-5-a.m. curfew ordered by Gov. Jay Nixon on Saturday. “It’s like they didn’t give us a chance.”
She watched as a young man threw a canister back at police.
“Good,” she said. “Give them a taste of their own medicine.”
She gestured into the surrounding darkness.
“Somewhere out there, there’s still people’s houses getting broken into, people getting raped, kids getting molested. And they’re out here with people demonstrating peacefully. A peaceful situation turned into a war. We’re not here acting like animals,” she said.
Kenny Thompson, 21, rubbed his eyes and doused his face with a bottle of water after inhaling the gas. Several gunshots were heard, and Thompson called out to those who began running.
“It’s OK, he shouted. “That’s our people shooting at the cops.”
Follow @kurtisalee for the latest political news and send tips to kurtis.lee@latimes.com
Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
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| Militarized police units in Ferguson gas the African American community. |
Private autopsy shows Michael Brown was shot six times, including twice in the head
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon early Monday ordered the National Guard deployed to the town of Ferguson, where another night of violence saw police pelted with bottles and Molotov cocktails and looters rampaging through local businesses.
The executive order directs the resources of the National Guard “to help restore peace and order and to protect the citizens of Ferguson.”
“Tonight, a day of hope, prayers and peaceful protests was marred by the violent criminal acts of an organized and growing number of individuals, many from outside the community and state, whose actions are putting the residents and businesses of Ferguson at risk,” the governor said in a statement.
At least two people were shot and the governor’s statement said police were also fired upon in street protests that have escalated since the Aug. 9 shooting of an 18-year-old black youth, Michael Brown by a white police officer.
Police said there were signs of a pre-planned and coordinated attempt to disrupt the city and launch an advance on the police command post not far from the scene of the shooting.
“There were shootings, vandalism and other acts of violence that clearly appear not to have been spontaneous but premeditated criminal acts,” Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson told reporters early Sunday.
“The catalyst was not civil disobedience, but pre-planned agitation,” he said.
The new street eruptions came as a private autopsy revealed that Brown had been shot at least six times, including twice in the head.
Anthony Gray, an attorney for the Brown family, said a diagram provided by New York forensics expert Dr. Michael Baden, commissioned by the family to do an independent examination, revealed details of the bullets that struck Brown’s body during his Aug. 9 encounter with a white police officer.
The fact that one of the shots struck the top of Brown’s head, Gray said, was significant.
“To have a shot that’s at a 90-degree angle from the top of his skull to the bottom of his chin, almost vertical, that sounds like an officer standing over him,” Gray said.
Baden said his examination suggested that none of the six bullets was fired at point-blank range, but all were fired from at least one to two feet away.
“There’s no evidence of powder residue,” Baden said in a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Baden said two bullets struck Brown in the head: one in the forehead and one at the top of the head — fired at “a right angle to the top of the head.”
“The top of the head one was the one that would have made him unconscious and fall to the ground,” Baden said.
But it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from that, he said, without also considering witness statements and marks on Brown’s clothing. “The head is very movable, and it can be in a number of positions,” he said.
At least one of the wounds to Brown’s arm “could have been defensive,” Baden said.
Police say Brown had participated in a strong-arm robbery at a mini-mart shortly before his encounter with Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson.
Wilson, police said, was confronted by Brown inside his police car in a scuffle that led to the shooting. At least one witness who was accompanying Brown that afternoon has said Brown was shot as he walked away from the police officer with his hands raised, and then was hit with additional bullets.
The latest round of street clashes Sunday began about 9:30 p.m., as a large group of protesters began marching toward a shopping center where police have set up a command post.
Protesters held their hands aloft, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and police began lobbing smoke canisters and tear gas toward the marchers as they neared the command post and refused to back down.
Protesters fled at first, then held their ground in the middle of the street; a few protesters grabbed smoke canisters from the street and hurled them back at police. Large numbers of people found themselves unable to flee as police advanced in half a dozen military vehicles because the street was blocked by the crowd behind them.
“It’s unbelievable. This is something you would see on TV in a third-world country. Tear gas — I’ve never seen it escalate to that point,” said Martin McDonald, 38, a truck driver from the town of Florissant who joined the protests for the first time on Sunday.
Chris Hudson, 31, a construction worker, said he wished protesters would gather near the police station, instead of paralyzing a residential area.
“I feel like they’re taking advantage of the situation,” he said as stood on the side of the street, watching as police advanced in a cloud of gas.
“They should have let people be. It’s not even 12 yet,” said Nikki Chamberlain, 36, referring to the midnight-to-5-a.m. curfew ordered by Gov. Jay Nixon on Saturday. “It’s like they didn’t give us a chance.”
She watched as a young man threw a canister back at police.
“Good,” she said. “Give them a taste of their own medicine.”
She gestured into the surrounding darkness.
“Somewhere out there, there’s still people’s houses getting broken into, people getting raped, kids getting molested. And they’re out here with people demonstrating peacefully. A peaceful situation turned into a war. We’re not here acting like animals,” she said.
Kenny Thompson, 21, rubbed his eyes and doused his face with a bottle of water after inhaling the gas. Several gunshots were heard, and Thompson called out to those who began running.
“It’s OK, he shouted. “That’s our people shooting at the cops.”
Follow @kurtisalee for the latest political news and send tips to kurtis.lee@latimes.com
Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
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