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Shooting of Michael Brown

Aired August 15, 2014 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining us. For those viewers just joining me, just about an hour ago the Ferguson police chief released a packet of information concerning the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. He also released the police officer's name, the officer who shot and killed Brown.

The officer's name is Darren Wilson. He was a police officer for six years. No disciplinary action taken against him ever and he was treated for injuries on that Saturday.

Now, the bomb shell information comes in the form of police surveillance tapes and you are looking at them right now. This taken from a convenience store shortly before Michael Brown was killed. This appears to be Michael Brown assaulting a convenience store worker. I'm going to use the word alleged right now because allegedly Michael Brown was supposedly stealing cigars and then the call went out and the shooting went down.

As I said, the Ferguson police chief handed out this packet of information, complete with police reports.

Don Lemon has been poring through that packet and he has more information for us. Hi -- Don.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey Carol.

And I think it's very important that you say alleged and I think it's very important to have the facts here right and go through them. I'm going through those documents. I will go through them. And also I just want to say, there's a lot of misinformation out there, pictures that are going around social media about the officer, about this officer being a black officer. On background, according to a very credible source, it is a white police officer. So that information that is going across social media inaccurate.

So let's go through these documents so that our viewers know and that you know, Carol, because I'm sure you have it in your e-mail as a PDF. I'm sure this is all over the Internet now.

If you look on page two of this document, it shows you exactly what was going on here, what they said that Michael Brown is accused of. It says a box of Swisher Sweets -- right one box Swisher Sweets Cigars, $48.99. Then I would draw if you are looking -- your attention to at page five here. Page five gives a description of who it is -- a black male, they are saying dark. There's one with dread locks and there is also one with short-cropped hair, wearing khaki long shorts, a white t-shirt, yellow socks, flip-flop style shoes.

Then I would draw your attention to page 8 of this document if you're following along with me. It gives every single camera angled that we are seeing here, camera 3 shows in the parking lot, Camera 6 of the interior, Camera 7 of the interior.

And here's what it says. The video reveals Brown entered the store followed by Johnson. Brown approaches the register with Johnson standing behind him and there's something redacted. It says can be seen in the background walking behind the restroom behind the counter. Brown hands a box of Swisher Sweets to Johnson. An apparent struggle or confrontation seems to take place with Brown. However it is obscured by a display case on the counter. Meantime Johnson says the box he is handed back on the counter, Brown turns away from the counter with another box of Swisher Sweets cigars and walks toward the exit door.

And then it goes on to talk about the confrontation that happened. And then it says, it is worth mentioning that this incident is related as Ana said to another incident detailed under Ferguson police report -- two different police reports here, one is a robbery, the other is the shooting of Michael Brown. It gives that police report number and it says Brown was fatally wounded involving the officer in that department.

And again, you know, we're calling this a bomb shell. I'm not sure if I would call it a bomb shell because as you remember, Carol, in the beginning it was said that Michael Brown had participated in stealing something from a convenience store. Remember that? They said it was candy, it was something else. Now --

COSTELLO: It was all rumor and conjecture.

LEMON: Yes. But if you want to classify the strong arm as a bomb shell, I would say absolutely right. But the fact that there may have been something that precipitated this, I don't think that that is any revelation. But according to the officers and according to witness, he was stopped for walking in the middle of the street or jaywalking.

So yes, it was conjecture and now there is confirmation at least from police that it's possibly him.

COSTELLO: Let me ask you this -- let me ask you this Don. Let me ask you this. In reading that packet of information, is there an indication that the officer involved in the shooting of Michael Brown knew that Brown was a suspect in this strong arm robbery?

LEMON: There is an indication. Let me find it for you here. It says -- I think that is on page six, on page five -- when he goes into -- for the employee -- I go in and contact the employee. It was a quick trip and say he went that way. So the employee says he went that way. He was indicating with his hands toward his chest and then northward on West Florison. And that's where -- on West Florison, that's where all of the protests have been going on.

I still could not see the suspect in West Florison and then he went inside and he contacted them. And then it goes on to say because of the description of what he was wearing that he came in contact I guess with Michael Brown on that street and then that's where the confrontation happened.

I guess the officer was roaming around the neighborhood, trying to figure out exactly where he went when the convenience clerk said he went that way, so the officer followed and he says -- I can't find the page that it's on -- he says (inaudible) arrived on scene prior to and I obtained the following information -- so that's where the information came from. The clerk, the clerk told him he went that way, gave him a description, the officer went to look for him.

COSTELLO: All right. Don Lemon, I'll leave you to continue to pore through that packet so you come up with new information for us.

I have to take another break. I'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

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COSTELLO: All right. We told you a little earlier that the Ferguson police chief released new information about what went down just before Michael Brown was shot and killed by this Ferguson police officer. He allegedly was involved in a strong armed robbery. We've been talking a lot about that.

As you might expect, tensions may rise in Ferguson because of this new information, so we understand that Governor Jay Nixon, Missouri's governor, and Captain Ron Johnson -- he's with the Missouri Highway Patrol -- he's now in charge of the police presence in Ferguson, they will hold a news conference at noon Eastern time and we expect them to talk about this new information.

In the meantime as you saw behind Ana Cabrera or maybe you didn't, people are already starting to protest, peacefully protest in Ferguson in light of this new information and they walk in the streets with their hands-up. That hands-up symbol has become a symbol of the protest in the Michael Brown shooting; demonstrators taking up the pose from Los Angeles to New York and at Howard University where hundreds of students gathered to take this photo in solidarity with Michael Brown. This photo has since gone viral, re-tweeted more than 13,000 times.

I want to bring Leighton Watson now. He's a senior at Howard University and he's president of the Student Association. Welcome Leighton.

LEIGHTON WATSON, PRESIDENT, STUDENT ASSOCIATION, HOWARD UNIVERSITY: Glad to be with you.

COSTELLO: I'm glad to have you here. We'll get to the photo in just a minute. But I want to get your reaction to the news just moments ago where the officer who shot Michael Brown was named and also it's been alleged now that Michael Brown was possibly a suspect in a strong armed robbery. Your reaction.

WATSON: Well, my reaction to the naming was the naming was a good thing. I'm glad that details are starting to come out. However, it is alleged robbery, and it's nothing conclusive. And even I was sitting here and thinking, even the cost of the alleged robbery was $50, but the cost to Michael Brown for the interaction between him and the police officer was his life. And that's still an injustice nonetheless.

COSTELLO: It's become a little more complicated now, though. Isn't it more complicated now?

WATSON: With the strong arm, with the video, with the strong arm allegations, it makes it appear as though it was an altercation between him and that store manager. But even then, when you come out and you confront someone in the middle of the street, the altercation between him and the officer is still not clear to where an unarmed teenager can cause you to fear your life in such a way where you have to shoot that person multiple times. That connection still has not been made between the alleged robbery and someone killing an unarmed teen.

COSTELLO: Ok. Let's go back to the photo. Were you surprised at how much it resonated with people?

WATSON: We were surprised, but it's not surprising in that it shows a connection between how young people, young black people -- it could have been any one of us. Most of us are in our teens, 18 to 21 years old. Most of us are African-American. Most of us have been stopped by the police and profiled. And so what that picture really does is make a connection between young African-Americans who are doing nothing wrong and Michael Brown who in this case had his hands up at the time, apparently, and was unarmed. And so it showed that it really could be any one of us. And I think that resonated with the nation.

COSTELLO: What do you hope comes out of this when all is said and done?

WATSON: What we really want -- the names have been released, but we want proactive steps to make sure that we're not doing a vigil and we're not having these sort of press conferences every year and so one of the measures that I saw, one of the solutions that I saw that I really liked was the police cameras that would be on glasses or on their outfits so that it keeps police more accountable; police and citizens more accountable. And if you look at the Rialto Police Department in California, they implemented that and it has shown significant success and drop in the police reports down like 88 percent.

So I think that that's one of the solutions that we would really like to see and we as Howard students would push for those sort of proactive solutions.

COSTELLO: Leighton Watson from Howard University -- thanks so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it. WATSON: Thank you for the time.

COSTELLO: All right. Let's head to Washington now. Pamela Brown has new information on how the FBI will handle this investigation. Tell us about it.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right Carol. Well again, there's to -- there's parallel investigations taking place. There's the federal investigation as well as the local investigation, but I can tell you if there was a criminal conduct before this shooting, that will be a significant factor, really in both investigations, and will move the needle toward the officer.

Now, how much it will move the needle, of course, is up to the details, but what it shows us, Carol, is that essentially what was in the officer's mind leading up to the shooting. Did the officer believe that Michael Brown was the suspect? Was the strong arm robber involved in the robbery at the convenience store, and if so, the officer likely would have thought that this person was predisposed to cause harm given the informing that was given over dispatch.

But, Carol, what's really important here are those moments right before the shooting took place when there was interaction between Brown and the officer. That's really what is ultimately going to inform charges -- any charges against the officer, if those charges come.

And also if Brown did have his hands up in the air, he wasn't a threat at that point. Was he shot after that point? But just to clear up any confusion about the two investigations and what the federal investigators are looking at versus the local investigators, Carol.

The local level, they are looking at the killing of Michael Brown. Was it a murder? Was it manslaughter? That's the distinction there. On the federal level they are looking at whether there is a civil rights violation. Did the law enforcement officer acting in his official capacity use excessive force and willfully deprive Michael Brown of his rights protected under the constitution and by the law? That's really what they are going to be looking at but the fact that we're getting this new information, that there was alleged criminal activity before and --

COSTELLO: Pamela, I've got to interrupt you -- I'm sorry. Captain Ron Johnson is now talking. He's holding a news conference. He's of course, in charge of the police presence in Ferguson. Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you give me a moment so I can talk to the man here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands up. Hands up. Don't shoot. Hands-up, don't shoot. Hands-up, don't shoot. Hands-up, don't shoot.

COSTELLO: All right. You can see Captain Johnson. He's in the middle of protesters because shortly after the Ferguson police chief made the announcement and revealed the officer's name and also talked about this strong arm robbery that took place shortly before Michael Brown was shot and killed by that officer, protests broke out and we heard Ana Cabrera talking about those protests.

They were peaceful. People were walking through the streets with their hands held up. And as we said, that's become a symbol of this tragedy. As you can see, Captain Johnson is front and center walking amongst the people.

Actually Ana Cabrera is ready and she's observing this. Tell us more about what's happening now -- Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So just behind me, you can still hear more protests. You will at times see swarms of people. That's because Captain Johnson is here talking with protesters. And I just ran over a moment ago to hear kind of what's going on, what's the game plan. He's telling both reporters and the protesters that are in this vicinity that he's going to bring a group of selected protesters to that press conference with the Missouri governor and with the Missouri State Highway Patrol that's supposed to start in a little more than an hour from now. And he said those protesters will also have a voice in the conversation that happens with the Missouri governor and the Missouri State Highway Police.

So again we're seeing a desire and an effort to engage the community in the dialogue that's happening here and the plan for what's going to happen in this community as this day continues and as the days ahead continue as well as we learn more information -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Ana Cabrera, reporting live from Ferguson. Thanks so much. I'm going to head to a break. I'll be right back with more.

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COSTELLO: All right. President Obama calling for transparency into the investigation into the shooting death of that unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Today we got some information that will certainly factor into that investigation. The name of the officer who fired the shot, Darren Wilson, and surveillance pictures from a robbery that officers say is connected to Brown's death.

I want to bring in Patricia Vine. She's a Democratic committee woman for Ferguson township. Good morning.

PATRICIA VINE, DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE WOMAN, FERGUSON: Hi. Good morning, Carol. How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm good. It's been an interesting morning to say the least. The Ferguson police chief came out. He named the officer involved in the shooting, but then he just passed out packets of police information, and kind of left us all to figure things out for ourselves. What do you make of that?

VINE: Well, the community is glad that the officer's name was released. This will give people the opportunity that if they have been possibly harassed by this officer, that they can come forward and talk about things that they have experienced, that they may not have necessarily reported. But this new cloud of innuendo, especially in such a volatile case like this, I don't think that this is maybe the responsible thing to do as we've just had a beautiful night of peaceful protests after being gassed. People are angry about this. And the problem has been -- people are angry because they are not getting answers, so you kind of can't throw things out like this under a cloud of innuendo and then step back.

COSTELLO: Well, that's what I was -- I guess you put it much more eloquently than I did. I kind of wanted an explanation from the police chief himself as to why this shooting may have gone down.

VINE: Correct and the idea that maybe an aggressive shoplifting and jaywalking is enough to get you shot. It makes you wonder especially seeing the tactics that the police have used when they felt that there's been aggressive protests. So this really makes us think about the culture of the police department in this community and in the county and how things are being handled here. You can definitely now understand maybe why people have been calling for the FBI and the Department of Justice to get involved.

COSTELLO: Captain Ron Johnson and the governor are about to hold a news conference at noon Eastern time, 11:00 your time, and they are going to involve some protesters. They are going to have them take part in this news conference. Is that a good idea?

VINE: I think it is. I think that we need to be open to allowing people to express their First Amendment rights. And I think that this is a very good step in doing that, even in light of these new developments. And we just have to see what happens. I mean I think it's better to allow this than to suppress it. We have already seen what happens when you try to suppress that type of activity here in our community.

COSTELLO: Patricia Vine, Democratic committee woman for Ferguson township. Thank you so much for joining me this morning.

I want to head out to a different part of Ferguson right now and check in with Don Lemon because as I told you he's been poring through this packet handed out by the Ferguson police chief. What have you uncovered -- Don?

LEMON: I'm looking at -- Carol, actually, I e-mailed you something that spoke about exactly the question you asked me, how did the officer know that it was Michael Brown, what indication did he have, and he says in the document that I sent you as well, it says that he was canvassing the area. He went out to canvass the area and then after that, that is how he came into contact with Michael Brown.

He says came into contact with the suspect wearing a red cards cap, yellow socks with another male subject walking with the khaki shorts on and then he says "still no one matching that description". And then there's a point in the -- in these documents, I believe it's on page 17, if I can get to it, which talks about, I think it says four shots being fired. Producers, if you can -- there we go -- shots on Canfield and in the documents, four to six shots, it says. Four to six shots, and it gives the address on Canfield. So, again -- again, there was a question about obviously who the officer was. We have the officer's name now and the question about how many shots were fired. This clears that up at least a little bit. Four to six shots fired according to the incident report here.

And that's the latest that we know and I'm still continuing to go through these documents -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ok. You continue. I'm going to pose a question to Jean Casarez right now. Dorian Johnson, Michael Brown's friend, he came out and he gave the media an account of what went down that day. He did not mention any strong arm robbery. What do you make of that?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I find it very interesting and our minds are working the same way because I'm reading this police report. And I think that the identity of the person in that surveillance video, i.e., Michael Brown may become a moot issue because it says in here a second person at the scene identified himself as being with Brown at the convenience store. And that would be the person you are talking about right there -- his good friend.

So that may not be the focus anymore. The focus may be what happened seconds before that shooting in that car.

COSTELLO: Right. And again, so much new information coming out: the officer's name, Darren Wilson. We know he's been a police officer for six years; and we also heard from the Ferguson police chief that he was treated for injuries that Saturday. We don't know how serious those injuries were. We don't know exactly what those injuries were. And as we're poring through this packet, maybe we'll find that out too.

But again, I find it curious that the police chief didn't outline specifics for us.

CASAREZ: That's for a court of law and he may be a witness. They may be a witness but all of that is important for the state of mind of the decedent and the state of mind of the officer.

COSTELLO: And the state of mind of the community. Jean Casarez many thanks. And thanks to all of our contributors today, all of them did a terrific job.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" after a break.

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