It has been quite the emotional whirlwind in the few days following the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. The teen, who was unarmed when the police gunned him down on August 9, has been a topic of discussion on various media platforms, particularly Twitter where there have been a number of trending hashtags related to the incident.
Protestors have been demonstrating in Ferguson for justice for Black youth. On Tuesday, Anonymous, an organization of hackers, demanded that protesters remain safe from police brutality and threatened to hack the Ferguson Police Department if not. The hackers are threatening to expose the name of the officer who shot Brown, which has become classified information after the Ferguson Police Department refused to release the officer’s name.
But possibly the most chilling information since the shooting, is the emergence of Brown’s friend and eyewitness, 22-year-old Dorion Johnson.
Johnson was walking with Brown and told MSNBC in an exclusive interview that he saw the gun pointed at Brown and the “fire” exiting the barrel of the gun.
Johnson says that he and 18-year-old Brown were walking and talking when a squad car pulled up, and the officer in the car told the pair to “get the f–k on the sidewalk.” When the two stated to the officer that they were at Johnson’s place of residence, the officer allegedly put the vehicle in reverse and hit the young men, demanding for them to repeat what they said. The officer then reached out and grabbed Brown’s neck, choking him, according to Johnson.
The officer, whom the Ferguson Police Department refuses to identify by name, threatened to shoot, and Brown and Johnson began to run. The officer fired, hitting Brown. Johnson says the last words he heard Brown utter were “keep running.”
[Image: Trymaine Lee for MSNBC]