A young black man who was scheduled to start college this week was shot and killed on Saturday. I think it’s important that we be cautious and reserve judgment until learning more about the case. What is reported in the media is often geared towards provoking an emotional response, and in many cases the truth of the incident is not revealed until all details are known. Also, the accounts reported thus far vary widely. Still, it is an absolute tragedy. Michael had been accepted to college and was scheduled to begin this Monday. His father said that they were looking forward to dropping him off at his first day of college on Monday, they were so proud. Instead, they attended his funeral. Community members of Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb where the incident took place, have become enraged, looting and engaging in both violent and non-violent protests. Michael’s mother has stated she doesn’t want any violence in her son’s name, only justice.
More from CNN:
[quote]It’s a case of he said, he said. The accounts of why a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown on a street in Ferguson, Missouri, on Saturday couldn’t be more disparate.
One side says the teenager was surrendering, his hands in the air to show he was unarmed, when the officer opened fire. Authorities counter that Brown attacked the officer in his car and tried to take his gun.
The St. Louis suburb of 21,000 was wracked by violence as protesters outraged over the 18-year-old’s shooting faced off with police.
Although there were reports that some demonstrations were peaceful – protesters held up their hands, as Brown reportedly did, and others demanded a fair inquiry, chanting, “No justice, no peace” – there were also reports of fires, looting, vandalism and attacks on police officers.
…
Dorian Johnson, 22, told CNN that he and Brown were walking in the middle of the street when a white male officer pulled up and told them, “Get the f*** on the sidewalk.” The young men replied that they were “not but a minute away from our destination, and we would shortly be out of the street,” Johnson said.
The officer drove forward but stopped and backed up, almost hitting the pair, Johnson said.
“We were so close, almost inches away, that when he tried to open his door aggressively, the door ricocheted both off me and Big Mike’s body and closed back on the officer,” Johnson said.
Still in his car, the officer then grabbed Brown by his neck, Johnson said. Brown tried to pull away, but the officer kept pulling Brown toward him, he said.
The officer drew his weapon, and "he said, ‘I’ll shoot you’ or ‘I’m going to shoot’ " and almost instantaneously fired his weapon, hitting Brown, Johnson said.
Johnson and a bloodied Brown took off running, and Johnson hid behind the first car he saw, he said. The officer got out of his car.
“I saw the officer proceeding after my friend Big Mike with his gun drawn, and he fired a second shot and that struck my friend Big Mike,” Johnson told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “And at that time, he turned around with his hands up, beginning to tell the officer that he was unarmed and to tell him to stop shooting. But at that time, the officer firing several more shots into my friend, and he hit the ground and died.”
As federal civil rights investigators and the FBI carry out their own inquiry into the case, tensions are running high in Ferguson, where there’s a history of distrust between the predominately black community and the largely white police force.
Brown was African-American. Police have not identified the shooter, but a witness told CNN on Tuesday that the officer who opened fire is a Caucasian male.[/quote]
