At a press conference this morning, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson identified Officer Darren Wilson as the officer who shot and killed unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. He also released surveillance footage of a convenience store “strong-arm robbery” in which two unidentified men stole a box of cigars, alleging one of them fit Brown’s description.
However, at an afternoon press briefing, Jackson admitted Wilson was unaware that Brown was a suspect at the time of the shooting. In Jackson’s own words, the robbery “was not related to the initial contact” between Officer Wilson and Brown. The admission raises an obvious question: If Wilson didn’t know about a robbery when he shot Michael Brown, why did the department release footage of an apparently unrelated alleged robbery this morning?
Jackson declined to comment on why exactly Wilson did stop Brown and his friend, only noting that “they were walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic,” the Associated Press reports. When asked why they released footage of a convenience store robbery that has no apparent connection to the death of Mike Brown, Jackson suggested the media had asked for the footage to be released. As of right now, it appears the convenience store robbery and the death of Mike Brown are unrelated …
