Police: Slain US Teen Was Robbery Suspect


Police: Slain US Teen Was Robbery Suspect

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The unarmed black teenager whose shooting death by a white police officer unleashed riots in a Missouri town was a suspect in a robbery just minutes before he was killed, according to police.

The allegation reignited fresh anger and frustration in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson, with the 18-year-old student's family accusing police of attempting to demean his character amid an ongoing investigation.

Incident reports from the Ferguson police department linked Michael Brown to the theft of a $49 box of cigars from a convenience store, shortly before he was fatally shot by police in broad daylight on a nearby street last Saturday.

Brown's death stirred racial tensions in the majority black suburb with an overwhelmingly white police force and renewed a national debate about relations between law enforcement and African-Americans. It also called into question the use of heavy-handed policing in response to protesters, AFP reported.

Police released surveillance footage showing a tall, muscular black man - in a T-shirt, khaki shorts and sandals, the same outfit Brown was wearing - grabbing a store clerk by the shirt and shoving him.

Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson meanwhile identified the officer who shot Brown as Darren Wilson, 28, a white four-year veteran of the force with no record of ill discipline.

At a second press conference on Friday, Jackson said the "initial contact between the officer and Mr Brown was not related to the robbery".

Rather, he said, Wilson, in a patrol car, had stopped Brown "because he was walking down the street, stopping traffic. That was it."

Jackson described Wilson as "a distinguished officer" who has been devastated by the shooting. "He never intended for any of this to happen", he added.

The disclosures followed Ferguson's first night of calm this week, after Missouri Governor Jay Nixon ordered state troopers to take over from heavily armed and distrusted local police.

"Last night was a great night," said Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Protests continued peacefully on Friday, with about 300 people demonstrating at a gas station that has become a focal point since it was looted and torched at the weekend.

The link between Brown and the "strong-arm" theft of a box of Swisher Sweet cigars, about 20 minutes prior to the shooting, appears in a police incident report that summarised the content of a surveillance video.

 

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