UPDATE: *FERGUSON POLICE SAY OFFICER DARREN WILSON SHOT MICHAEL BROWN
Following much consternation yesterday after Anonymous 'announced' the possible name (Bryan Willman) of the police officer who shot and killed Mike Brown in Ferguson; Police Chief Thomas Jackson is about to announce the details...
Police chief about to announce the name of the officer #Ferguson [4] pic.twitter.com/7Kqqtq1oY2 [5]
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 15, 2014 [6]
Police suggest Brown was prime suspect in a crime... As The BBC reports, [7]
Michael Brown, the black teenager shot by police on Saturday in Ferguson, Missouri, was a suspect in a robbery just moments earlier, police have said.
Police say Mr Brown, 18, was one of two men suspected of robbing a nearby convenience store.
Minutes later he was shot by Officer Darren Wilson after a struggle, Ferguson police Chief Thomas Jackson said on Friday.
Stills from camera pic.twitter.com/FEcmKc3oGr [8]
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 15, 2014 [9]
We suspect this will do little to calm tensions
Forty-five percent of US citizens don’t trust in justice amid police killings of civilians, according to a poll by HuffPost and YouGov in the immediate aftermath of the shooting of Michael Brown, a black teen, by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
...
Sixty-nine of black Americans thought the officers used lethal force too frequently, while only 37 percent of white Americans thought so. Over 65 percent of black US citizens don’t trust the justice system to deal with the guilty, while 40 percent of the white population don’t believe in the system either.
Live Feed:
The Nation Journal reports,
After nearly a week of protests, on Friday the Ferguson, Mo. Police Department identified the officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown.
At a press conference, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said Darren Wilson, a police officer who had been serving in the force for six years, was responsible for the shooting.
Jackson did not take questions, but earlier told CNN that the responsible officer was "devastated."
The news comes after five days of turmoil in Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb of 21,000.
On Sunday night, Darren Wilson shot and killed Brown, who was unarmed. Since then, there have been protests in the street every night. Ferguson police initially responded with SWAT teams, tear gas, and rubber bullets. On Thursday, the state government announced a switch, taking St. Louis County police officers off the beat and placing Missouri State Highway Patrol officers in command.
The naming comes after hackers tried to figure out the officer responsible for themselves. On Thursday, Anonymous released the name and photo of a Ferguson police officer the group claimed to be the man who shot Brown. Ferguson police quickly denied their claim, and Twittersuspended the Anonymous account that had sent out the information.
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[11]
Black officers call for changes to ease racial tension in St. Louis police
Darren Wilson, president of the Ethical Society of Police, speaks to members on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013, during a meeting to discuss racial tensions in the department after a racially charged letter was left in an African-American police officer's mailbox.
From 2013, [10]
Minority officers sounded off for more than two hours Wednesday before the police department’s highest-ranking black commanders about issues they believe illustrate racism within the ranks and the need for reform. But those commanders blamed some of the issues on unmotivated officers.
About 30 members of the Ethical Society of Police packed the organization’s office for the special meeting convened to call black commanders to action in the wake of a racist letter sent to a black police officer, presumably by another officer in South Patrol.
The group’s president, Sgt. Darren Wilson, said last week that the racist note was symptomatic of a larger, citywide problem. About a third of the 1,325-member police force is African-American; the city it serves is almost equally divided between black and white residents.
“If you’re treating a police department employee like this, how are we treating our citizens?” Wilson asked.
* * *
This is pure sepculation but he is a police officer in St.Louis called Darren Wilson...
NOTE: It appears this is not 'the' Darren Wilson - he is based in Hollywood, CA.
