Brown shot 6 times, 2 in head: Autopsy

Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager killed last week by a white police officer in the US state of Missouri, was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, a preliminary autopsy has found.

Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City chief medical examiner, found that Brown was shot twice in the head and four times in the right arm and that all the bullets were fired into his front body, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

One of the bullets entered the top of Brown’s skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury, according to Dr. Baden, who flew to Missouri on Sunday at the family’s request to conduct the autopsy.

Some of the bullets entered and exited Brown’s body several times, including one that caused at least five wounds. One shattered his right eye, went through his face, left through his jaw and re-entered his collarbone, the Times said.

“People have been asking: How many times was he shot? This information could have been released on Day 1,” Dr. Baden said in an interview with the Times after performing the autopsy. “They don’t do that, even as feelings built up among the citizenry that there was a cover-up. We are hoping to alleviate that.”

Dr. Baden, 80, is a well-known medical examiner and one of only about 400 board-certified forensic pathologists in the US who has performed more than 20,000 autopsies. He reviewed the autopsies of both President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The county of St. Louis has already conducted an autopsy, and the results have not yet been released. US Attorney General Eric Holder on Sunday ordered a separate autopsy to be conducted by the Justice Department.

Dr. Baden said it was unusual for the federal government to conduct a third autopsy, but several examinations often occur when there is so much distrust of the authorities.

“In my capacity as the forensic examiner for the New York State Police, I would say, ‘you’re not supposed to shoot so many times,’ ” said Dr. Baden, who retired from the state police in 2011.

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Brown’s family told the Times that “the sheer number of bullets and the way they were scattered all over his body showed this police officer had a brazen disregard for the very people he was supposed to protect in that community.”

“We want to make sure people understand what this case is about: This case is about a police officer executing a young unarmed man in broad daylight,” he added.

The shooting death of Brown has led to a week of protests in Ferguson, Missouri. Early on Monday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard into Ferguson hours after police said escalating violence led to shootings and more arrests.

Late Sunday, more than two hours before a second midnight curfew was set to begin, police fired tear gas at hundreds of angry protesters who were marching down the town’s main thoroughfare toward a police command center.

Brown’s death has reignited the national debate surrounding race and police brutality in the United States.