A big admission, and a key piece of the puzzle

A New York Times report on the huge differences between the accounts of eyewitnesses to the shooting of Michael Brown and accounts from Ferguson police doesn’t have much new information (if you’ve been following LGF, anyway), but it does show once again how consistent all the eyewitness accounts have been.

However, one new detail is very striking — because it’s the first time I’ve seen police admit that officer Darren Wilson actually fired his weapon at Michael Brown as he was running away.

Here’s the key section:

However, law enforcement officials say witnesses and forensic analysis have shown that Officer Wilson did sustain an injury during the struggle in the car. As Officer Wilson got out of his car, the men were running away. The officer fired his weapon but did not hit anyone, according to law enforcement officials.

The first section is just a repeat of what Ferguson PD has been saying since the beginning, that Wilson and Brown struggled inside the car. Notably, none of the eyewitnesses confirm this story.

However, the second paragraph quoted above makes it very clear that officer Wilson was firing his weapon at Michael Brown as he ran away — in other words, even though law enforcement officials say he didn’t hit Brown or Johnson, he was indeed shooting at Brown’s back.

That’s a confirmation of one of the crucial bits of eyewitness information, and an explanation for the initial reports that Brown was “shot in the back” — because Wilson did try to shoot him in the back. And that’s not supposition any more; it’s the direct word from law enforcement.