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Mike Brown Shooting And Ferguson: What Do We Know?

By John Dodge

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Around midday on Aug. 9, 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo.

That is one fact that is not in dispute.

According to police, Officer Wilson shot Brown because he viewed Brown was a threat. Brown's friend, Dorian Johnson, said Brown's hands were raised.

That is an obvious contradiction.

Since then, it has been hard to keep any facts in this case straight, creating what the National Review's Jonah Goldberg calls, "the race to be wrong."

Here is what is known about the shooting in Ferguson so far.

> Mike Brown was not armed when he was shot.

> He was walking in the middle of the street with a friend, when Officer Wilson told them to get on the sidewalk. Photos of Brown's body show him lying in the street.

> Police have released surveillance images showing Brown robbing a convenience store about ten minutes before the shooting.

> Brown was shot at least six times, according to an independent autopsy report.

> One of those shots struck Brown in the top of the head, suggesting he was leaning forward when that bullet struck.

> Brown was shot twice in the head and four times in the right arm, according to the report.

> All the shots entered in the front of Brown's body. Dorian Johnson, who was with Brown at the time of the shooting, claimed Brown was shot in the back.

> There are two other autopsies: one from the local medical examiner and another done by federal authorities.

> Those autopsies have not been released. The St. Louis medical examiner, Mary Case, did say that Brown was shot multiple times in the head and chest.

> Protests, some of them violent, have happened every night since the shooting.

> Protesters have looted stores.

> Police have responded with a massive show of force, including officers in full riot gear driving large armored vehicles.

> Tear gas has been used.

> Some protesters have thrown Molotov cocktails and other objects at police.

> There have been shootings reported during the protests, but it appears shots were not from police.

> The governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon, declared a state of emergency in Ferguson.

> The population of Ferguson is about 70 percent African American. Officer Wilson is white.

> A grand jury convened on Wednesday to review evidence in the case.

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