I wish I had a word of automatic comfort but I don’t. I wish I could say that it will be alright on a certain or specific day but I can’t. I wish that all of the pain that I have endured could possibly ease some of yours but it won’t. What I can do for you is what has been done for me: pray for you then share my continuing journey as you begin yours. –Sybrina Fulton offers encouragement in an article printed by Time.com and addressed to the family of Michael Brown, 18, who was slain in Ferguson, Missouri.
In the Blink of an Eye
On Aug. 9, 2014, at noon CST, Michael Brown was walking in the middle of the street in the 2900 block of Canfield Drive when he was confronted by Officer Darren Wilson.
At 12:04 p.m., Brown was pronounced dead.
Why did the officer open fire on the unarmed teen with his hands in the air — the universal sign of surrender?
Based on the absence of gunpowder residue on the body, Brown was not shot at close range, according to an autopsy conducted by Dr. Michael Baden, the physician and board-certified forensic pathologist hired by Brown’s family to conduct a private autopsy.
The death of Michael Brown is heartbreaking,
and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences
to his family and his community at this very
difficult time … as details unfold, I urge everyone
in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country,
to remember this young man through reflection
and understanding. We should comfort each other and talk with one another in a way that heals,
not in a way that wounds. Along with our prayers, [it’s] what Michael and his family, and
our broader American community, deserve.
–President Barack Obama
Dr. Baden’s autopsy details: Brown was shot at least six times by Wilson. Brown was shot twice in the head. One bullet entered through his right eye, exited his jaw and re-entered his collarbone. He was also shot in the top of his head. Dr. Baden, who has performed autopsies on notable individuals such as President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, revealed there was no way Brown could have survived the wound to the top of his head.
Brown was also shot four times in his right arm with each bullet entering from the front. The autopsy did not suggest that Brown was shot in the back. St. Louis County and the F.B.I. are investigating the crime. Each agency will perform an autopsy.
Remember. This shooting happened in broad daylight.
We are not simply talking about a human being killed. We are talking about a man, a young black man, a black man in a marginalized community, being gunned down by an officer who works under taxpayer generated funds with orders “to protect and to serve” those in the community to which he or she was assigned.
