Shooting of Michael Brown

The shooting of Michael Brown took place on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, United States. Brown was an 18-year-old African American male who died after he was shot several times by Darren Wilson, a 28-year-old white police officer. Several witnesses corroborate the officer’s account of the Michael Brown shooting.  Brown did not have weapons or a criminal record.

There were protests and riots in Ferguson after the shooting. There was a lot of media coverage in the United States. People have been talking about how Brown being killed relates to racism in the United States. They have pointed out that most of the police in Ferguson are white, while most of the people who live in Ferguson are African-American. They have also accused the media of being biased against Brown and the people protesting his killing.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, also known as the FBI, opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/08/11/fbi-opens-investigation-into-shooting-of-michael-brown/ President Obama, Rand Paul, Hillary Clinton, Al Sharpton and Bernie Sanders released statements about Brown's death.

A petition asking for a law named after Michael Brown that would require all police to wear a camera has had over 132,000 signatures.

Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Brown, went on administrative leave.  A jury chose not to legally accuse Wilson of the killing. He resigned on November 29, 2014.

Brown's funeral happened at the Friendly Temple Baptist Church on August 25. At the MTV Video Music Awards, Common asked the audience to have a moment of silence "for Mike Brown and for peace in this country and in the world".

References

Category:2014 deaths
Category:2014 in Missouri
Category:People shot and killed by law enforcement officers in the United States
Category:August 2014 events
Category:Black Lives Matter