Since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson, various versions of what went down have been told by a string of witnesses who knew Brown, lived at or near where the shooting happened or were visiting friends or relatives there.
Adding to the accounts are two new men from a Jefferson County-based company who were working outside at the location of the shooting, the Canfield Green apartments. According to stltoday.com, the men heard a single gunshot, looked up from their work and witnessed the
tragedy. Although both men (confirmed as white by GlobalGrind.com) gave statements to the St. Louis County police and the FBI, one of the men shared his story with the Post-Dispatch on the condition that his name and employer not be used.
The worker revealed that he didn’t see what happened at Wilson’s car, which was the site where a shot from Wilson’s gun was fired during an initial struggle with Brown. Although his version falls in line with other reported accounts, the Stltoday report noted that the
worker’s story doesn’t shed much light on whether Brown moved toward Wilson before he killed the unarmed victim. If Brown did, then the question is how aggressively.
Many of the stories reported state that Wilson chased Brown on foot away from his car after the initial gunshot and fired at least one more shot in Brown’s direction as he was fleeing. The accounts further mentioned that Brown stopped, turned around and put his hands up; and
that Wilson killed Brown in a barrage of gunfire.
The other worker stated that his account could be valuable to the case in light of him not knowing Brown or Wilson as well as not having any ties to Ferguson.Witness stories surrounding the shooting differ as at least one witness stated that Brown was not moving, while say he was heading toward Wilson.
The worker acknowledged seeing Brown on Aug. 9 about 11 a.m. as he was walking west on Canfield Drive, toward West Florissant Avenue. A rambling, half-hour conversation was later held between the man’s co-worker and Brown, the man said.
Speaking with KTVI in a video that aired Aug. 12, the co-worker revealed he uttered a profanity in frustration after hitting a tree root while digging. Upon hearing him, Brown stopped to talk to the co-worker.
Brown “told me he was feeling some bad vibes,” the co-worker said. “That the Lord Jesus Christ would help me through that as long as I didn’t get all angry at what I was doing.”As for the specifics of the conversation, the worker interviewed by the Post-Dispatch said
he paid little attention to the chat, but heard Brown tell his co-worker that he had a picture of Jesus on his wall. The co-worker jokingly replied that the devil had a picture of him on the wall.
During his chat with KTVI, the co-worker said Brown promised to come back and resume their conversation. As he walked away, the workers went back to work on their job.About a half-hour later, a gunshot was heard by the worker, who saw Brown running away from
a police car. Trailing about 10 to 15 feet behind was Wilson, gun in hand. The worker added that Wilson fired another shot at Brown, whose back was turned, about 90 feet away from the car.
Brown stumbled and then stopped, the worker continued, adding that Brown put his hands up, turned around and said, “OK, OK, OK, OK, OK.”
The worker then stated he told St. Louis County police investigators and the FBI that because of Brown’s stumble, it seemed to him that Brown had been wounded.
A private autopsy revealed that all but one of Brown’s gunshot wounds came while he faced Wilson. Shawn L. Parcells, who participated in the autopsy, told stltoday that one of the wounds to Brown’s arm could have occurred when he was facing away from Wilson.
“It’s inconclusive,” Parcells said. At this time, St. Louis County and federal autopsy results have not been released.
The worker goes on to say that Wilson, who had his gun drawn stopped about 10 feet in front of Brown, who then moved.
“He’s kind of walking back toward the cop,” the worker said while adding that Brown’s hands were still up as Wilson began backing up as he fired.After the third shot, Brown’s hands started going down after the third shot, and he moved about 25 feet toward Wilson, who kept backing away and firing, said the worker, who admitted that he could not tell from where he watched — about 50 feet away — if Brown’s motion toward
Wilson after the shots was “a stumble to the ground” or “OK, I’m going to get you, you’re already shooting me.”
Despite all the accounts, there hasn’t been a clear agreement among those who’ve spoken to the media about what happened after Brown turned around.
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(Photo Source: AP)
