Authorities in Ferguson, Missouri, on Friday identified the officer who fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown as Darren Wilson, nearly a week after the deadly encounter took place.
Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said Wilson was dispatched to investigate a “strong-arm” robbery at a convenience store shortly before his encounter with Brown, 18, on Saturday.
An incident report said Brown and another man, Dorian Johnson, were suspected of taking a box of cigars from the store. Police say surveillance camera footage shows Brown towering over the clerk in a confrontation.
Police said Wilson encountered Brown minutes after the 911 call reporting the robbery. Police had previously said Brown was shot multiple times after an officer encountered him and another man.
Conflicting stories have emerged about whether Brown and the other man physically assaulted the officer, pushing him into his squad car and struggling for his weapon, or whether Brown was trying to run when he was shot, as Johnson has said. While Johnson has been vocal in media interviews over the past week talking about what happened to Brown, he has not mentioned a robbery.
The police report information released Friday contains no details about what happened during the actual shooting.
Protests over Brown’s killing gave way to chaos and looting in the city, triggering a harsh and sharply criticized police crackdown against demonstrators. The situation changed Thursday night, when Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon gave Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson control over security operations. Johnson did away with the SWAT and police riot gear on the streets and marched with protesters instead. After nightly clashes all week, no arrests were made.
Authorities initially declined to release the name of the officer involved in the shooting, citing death threats. Wilson has been a police officer for six years and never had any disciplinary action taken against him, Jackson said.
After Ferguson police released Wilson’s name, the Ethical Society of Police, a nonprofit that represents black police officers in St. Louis, put out a statement on its Facebook page saying that the officer involved is not their president, who is also named Darren Wilson.
“As a result of public outcry and a demand for justice, the Ferguson police officer’s name was released and happens to be, Darren Wilson,” the statement said. “The first thing we would like to assure the world is that this is a horrific coincidence. May I assure the world that this is not the President of the Ethical Society of Police’s Sergeant Darren R. Wilson who is African-American, and happens to be an 18 year veteran of the St. Louis Police Department.”
This post has been updated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report