Holder orders new autopsy for slain teen

Private exam shows Brown shot 6 times, twice in head

Rev. Al Sharpton speaks with parents of Michael Brown, Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden during a rally at Greater Grace Church, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014, for their son who was killed by police last Saturday in Ferguson, Mo. Brown's shooting in the middle of a street, following a suspected robbery of a box of cigars from a nearby market, has sparked a week of protests, riots and looting in the St. Louis suburb. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Rev. Al Sharpton speaks with parents of Michael Brown, Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden during a rally at Greater Grace Church, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014, for their son who was killed by police last Saturday in Ferguson, Mo. Brown's shooting in the middle of a street, following a suspected robbery of a box of cigars from a nearby market, has sparked a week of protests, riots and looting in the St. Louis suburb. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Darren Wilson, identified as the police officer who shot an unarmed 18-year-old, Michael Brown, last month in Ferguson, Mo., had served almost two years as an officer in Jennings, Mo., and just less than three years on the force in Ferguson before the shooting, according to records. Several articles by The Associated Press, relying on information from authorities, erroneously reported the duration of his law enforcement experience in the two cities.

FERGUSON, Mo. -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Sunday ordered a federal medical examiner to perform another autopsy on a black Missouri teenager whose fatal shooting by a white police officer has spurred a week of rancorous and sometimes violent protests in suburban St. Louis.

The "extraordinary circumstances" surrounding the case of 18-year-old Michael Brown, and a request by Brown's family members, prompted the order, Department of Justice spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement.

"This independent examination will take place as soon as possible," Fallon said. "Even after it is complete, Justice Department officials still plan to take the state-performed autopsy into account in the course of their investigation."

According to a private autopsy, Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head.

The New York Times reported that the autopsy by Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City chief medical examiner, found that one of the bullets entered the top of Brown's skull, suggesting that his head was bent forward when he was shot.

Baden told the newspaper that Brown was also shot four times in the right arm and that all the bullets were fired into his front.

The bullets did not appear to have been shot from very close range because no gunpowder was present on his body. However, that determination could change if it turns out that there is gunshot residue on Brown's clothing, to which Baden did not have access.

David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor who supervised the criminal civil-rights section of Miami's U.S. Attorney's office, said a federally conducted autopsy "more closely focused on entry point of projectiles, defensive wounds and bruises" might help that investigation, and that the move is "not that unusual."

He also said federal authorities want to calm any public fears that no action will be taken on the case.

President Barack Obama -- who has been getting regular briefings on the situation in Ferguson while on vacation -- also is to be briefed by Holder upon returning to the White House today.

The Justice Department's latest announcement came after the first night of a state-imposed curfew in Ferguson, which ended with tear gas and seven arrests -- all charged with "failure to disperse," officials said -- after police dressed in riot gear used armored vehicles to disperse defiant protesters.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson said protesters weren't the reason for the escalated police reaction early Sunday morning after the midnight curfew took effect, but instead a response to a report of people who had broken into a barbecue restaurant and taken to the roof and a man who flashed a handgun in the street as armored vehicles approached the crowd of protesters.

Also overnight, a man was shot and critically wounded by another protester in the same area; authorities were searching for the shooter.

Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Nothum said the motive for the shooting was unclear. Nothum did not know the victim's condition Sunday night.

Later Sunday, protesters gathered in a peaceful rally, attended by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Speaking at the rally, Sharpton said Brown's death was a "defining moment for this country."

He also condemned the recent spate of violence and looting in Ferguson.

Meanwhile, about 150 people gathered in St. Louis to show support for officer who shot Brown.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that some demonstrators said they were protesting at a TV station because it had broadcast from in front of the officer's home. Others, mostly police and relatives of officers, said they wanted to make their voices heard amid what they have seen as unfair media coverage.

Chief Thomas Jackson has identified the officer who shot Brown as Darren Wilson, a six-year police veteran. Wilson has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting. Reporters have been unable to contact him at any addresses or phone numbers listed under that name in the St. Louis area.

As night fell Sunday in Ferguson, another peaceful protest quickly deteriorated after marchers pushed toward one end of a street. Police in riot gear ordered all the protesters to disperse. Many of the marchers retreated, but a group of about 100 stood defiantly about two blocks away until getting hit by another volley of tear gas. Some in the crowd retrieved the smoking canisters and threw them back toward the officers.

Protesters laid a line of cinder blocks across the pavement near the QuikTrip convenience store that was burned down last week. It was an apparent attempt to block police vehicles, but the vehicles easily plowed through. Someone set a nearby trash bin on fire, and gunshots rang out several blocks away.

Within two hours, most people had been cleared off West Florissant Avenue, one of the community's main thoroughfares.

Nixon speaks up

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon appeared on multiple Sunday morning talk shows, repeatedly emphasizing the role of the federal investigation over the local one.

"That is the kind of independent, external national review and investigation of this that I think will assist everyone in making sure we get to justice," Nixon said on CNN's State of the Union.

When asked on NBC's Meet the Press about the local investigation being led by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch, the governor said that McCulloch is "a seasoned prosecutor that has an opportunity to step up here and do his job."

McCulloch has publicly criticized Nixon's decision to turn security over to the Highway Patrol, calling it "shameful" and "disgraceful," and said it had been done without consulting local police.

"I will let the prosecutor speak for himself on what his time frame is, other than I know when I talked to Attorney General Holder that the response to that was to bring 40 additional agents into the region to accelerate those interviews," Nixon said on CNN. "Everybody is working really, really hard. ... To get justice, it has to be transparent justice; it has to be thorough justice."

Speaking to ABC's This Week, Nixon also said he was not aware the police were going to release surveillance video from the store where Brown is purported to have stolen a $49 box of cigars.

"It's appeared to cast aspersions on a young man that was gunned down in the street. It made emotions raw," Nixon said.

Ferguson Police waited six days to publicly reveal the name of the officer and documents alleging Brown robbed a convenience store before he was killed, though Jackson said the officer did not know Brown was a suspect when he encountered him walking in the street with a friend.

Brown had been walking with a friend down when the officer who shot him told them to get out of the street. They kept walking. Police have said little about the encounter other than that a scuffle ensued, the officer was injured and Brown was shot. Witnesses say the teenager had his hands in the air as Wilson fired multiple rounds.

"When you're exhausted, when you're out of resources, when you're out of ammunition, you surrender," Brown's uncle, pastor Charles Ewing, told worshippers during a Sunday sermon at Jennings Mason Temple in Ferguson. "He surrendered, and yet he died."

Curfew

As the curfew deadline arrived early Sunday morning, most protesters left the streets, but those who remained refused to leave the area as officers spoke through a loudspeaker: "You are in violation of a state-imposed curfew. You must disperse immediately."

As officers put on gas masks, a chant from the distant crowd emerged: "We have the right to assemble peacefully."

A protester also replied via bullhorn: "We are Mike Brown! We are Mike Brown! We are Mike Brown!"

A moment later, police began firing canisters into the crowd. Highway Patrol Spokesman Lt. John Hotz initially said police only used smoke, but later said they also used tear gas canisters.

At a news conference about 3 a.m. Sunday, Johnson explained some tear gas had been used because the police had learned that armed men were inside a restaurant. One man with a gun had moved to the middle of the street, Johnson said, but escaped. A police car was fired upon, he added, but it was not immediately clear if it was hit.

Nothum said it was not clear whether the curfew would remain in effect going into this morning. Officials were meeting at a command center in a shopping center near the scene of the protests on West Florissant Avenue.

Information for this article was contributed by Nigel Duara, Jim Suhr, Darlene Superville and Eric Tucker of The Associated Press; by Julie Bosman, Alan Blinder, Emma G. Fitzsimmons, Emmarie Huetteman, Charlie Savage, John Eligon, Frances Robles and Tanzina Vega of The New York Times; by Richard A. Serrano, Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times; and by Chuck Raasch and staff members of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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