Dive Brief:
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Two construction workers have confirmed what many witnesses to the shooting of Ferguson, Mo., teenager Michael Brown have said: He had his hands in the air when a police officer killed him.
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Police and the press have not named the two workers, who claim they were eyewitnesses.
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One of them told a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter that he did not see the initial confrontation between Officer Darren Wilson and the unarmed 18-year-old, but reported that Brown, who had started to run from Wilson, turned around and put his hands up before the officer shot him several times.
Dive Insight:
These two witnesses were working outside of Brown’s apartment building, and said they looked up at the scene after they heard a gunshot. One of the witnesses even said Brown had a "rambling, half hour conversation" with a coworker at the construction site before he was shot. Their account of the incident is important because nearly every other witness either knew Brown or knew people who lived at the same apartment building.