Attorneys for the family of Michael Brown claimed on Monday that the findings of a private autopsy indicated that the unarmed 18-year-old was killed by a police officer while trying to surrender, as Missouri national guard troops were ordered into Ferguson to quell the unrest that has rocked the town for more than a week.



Brown was shot “at least” six times by officer Darren Wilson and was ultimately killed by a bullet that entered the top of his head and travelled “back to front”, attorney Daryl Parks said the autopsy had found, arguing this showed Brown was fatally shot when his head was well bowed.

Dr Michael Baden, who carried out the autopsy, said that “there weren’t signs of a struggle” on Brown’s body. Police have said that Brown assaulted Wilson after the officer stopped him and a friend and told them to walk on the sidewalk rather than in the road on 9 August.

However Baden, the former chief medical examiner for New York City, was more cautious than the lawyers, stating that the findings in his preliminary report “could be consistent” with suggestions that Brown had been shot while charging at Wilson. “It’s possible,” he said.

“There are many different witness testimonies,” said Baden. “Many seem to line up in one direction, some in another direction. Right now until we get more information we can’t, from a forensic science point of view, can’t distinguish and can’t make an absolute judgment.”

The autopsy findings were released officially shortly before troops from the national guard began arriving in Ferguson, where more than a week of unrest prompted governor Jay Nixon to sign an executive order for their deployment in the early hours of Monday morning, following the most intense clashes so far. Publishing the order that put the troops on the streets, Nixon also announced the abandonment of a curfew, in place for the previous two nights, which had failed to stop people congregating in the streets.

Nixon stressed that the guard had “limited responsibilities”.

He said they would primarily “provide protection, and ensure the safety of our unified command centre, which was the target last night of a coordinated attack”. Nixon said there would be no five-hour curfew from midnight as had been implemented the last two nights.

Professor Shawn Parcells, a pathologist who worked on the autopsy with Baden, said that one shot, to the middle of Brown’s right arm, “could have occurred when he was putting his hands up”. Witnesses have said that at one point the 18-year-old threw his arms in the air in surrender. Parcells said two of the shots passed through and re-entered different parts of Brown’s body.

A closer look at the city of Ferguson. Photograph: Guardian

Benjamin Crump, the lead attorney for the Brown family, said the findings indicated that Brown “did not suffer”. He said Brown’s parents had insisted on a independent post-mortem. “They did not want to be left having to rely on the autopsy done by the St Louis law enforcement agencies, the same individuals they feel are responsible for executing their son in broad daylight,” he said.

The medical examiner for St Louis County, where authorities are investigating the shooting for potential criminal charges, has carried out a separate autopsy including a toxicology report. Its findings have not been published. The Obama administration has ordered a third autopsy to be carried out in order to assist a federal inquiry into whether civil rights were violated by the killing.

The pathologists said that they did not know the order in which the shots were fired, but that the two shots to the head were likely to have been the last. “All of these gunshot wounds were survivable except the one to the top of the head,” said Baden.

Baden also said Brown’s body showed “no gunshot residues on the skin surface, so the muzzle of the gun was at least one or two feet away. It could have been 30 feet away.” But he said to confirm this he would need to search Brown’s clothing for gunshot residue and had not yet had access to it. He said Brown suffered abrasions to his face when he fell to the ground.

Wilson, the officer who killed Brown, has not spoken publicly but a friend of the family, who declined to be named, told the Guardian that the officer admits he shot the teenager in the head. However, his version of events contradicts aspects of the accounts given by some other eyewitnesses, including Dorian Johnson.

There appears to be little dispute that an altercation took place when Wilson encountered Brown and Johnson, shortly after a robbery at a convenience store. Brown then made off, but quickly turned back.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Initial personnel from the national guard arrive at the Missouri highway patrol command center in Ferguson. Photograph: Michael B Thomas/AFP/Getty Images

In Wilson’s version, Brown was moving towards the officer in a threatening manner when he was shot. The autopsy concludes that all the shots were fired from the front.

Wilson’s account is that Brown continued to move towards him even after the first shots were fired, and did not stop until suffering a mortal wound to the head. “He just kept coming,” the friend said, characterising Wilson’s account.

The Department of Justice, which is leading a civil-rights investigation into the killing, on Sunday took the unusual step of ordering a federal medical examiner to conduct a third autopsy on Brown’s body. A spokesman for Eric Holder, the attorney general, cited the “extraordinary circumstances” of the case for the decision.

Both sides in what is becoming an increasingly incendiary and politicised story are likely to offer different interpretations: that Wilson fired in self-defence; or that six bullets showed excessive force.



Friends of Wilson and his girlfriend, Barbara Spradling, also a Ferguson police officer, have expressed concern about the racial and institutional politics involved, worrying that the charged environment may unduly influence the case.



In addition to concerns for their safety, friends of Spradling and Wilson believe his reputation has been unfairly tarnished by a rush to judgment from the media and some members of the public.



One friend of Spradling believes the legitimacy of any evidence supporting Wilson’s version of events will be questioned by protesters.

