Eleven years after the death of Ferguson, Missouri, teen Michael Brown sparked national protests over police brutality, the man who accompanied Brown on that fateful day in August of 2014 is dead. Dorian Johnson, 33, was shot and killed around 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning in an apartment complex less than a mile from where the incident between himself and Brown, who were black, and then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who is white, played out.
According to the Ferguson Police Department, the investigation is still ongoing, and not many details are known about exactly what happened. Police have confirmed that one person is in custody and are asking anyone with information on the case to contact them. There had been early rumors that the incident was an officer-involved shooting. However, Ferguson PD states that no officers from Ferguson or any other agency were involved.
Dorian Johnson’s account of what took place that day in 2014 was sketchy at best. He claimed that he and Brown were walking down the street when Wilson pulled up. After words were exchanged between them, Johnson claimed that Brown was trying to surrender and had his hands up, and Wilson shot him in the back. It sparked the whole “hands up, don’t shoot” chant. But in a March 2015 Justice Department report, Johnson’s claims were contradicted by other witnesses.