[Shortly before the shooting, Brown stole several packages of cigarillos from a nearby convenience store and shoved the store clerk who tried to stop him, according to the U.S. Department of Justice examination. Brown was accompanied by his friend Dorian Johnson.[2] Wilson had been notified by police dispatch of the robbery and descriptions of the two suspects. He encountered Brown and Johnson as they were walking down the middle of the street. Wilson said that he realized that the two men matched the robbery suspects' descriptions.[3][4] Wilson backed up his cruiser and blocked them. An altercation ensued with Brown and Wilson struggling through the window of the police vehicle for control of Wilson's gun until it was fired.[5] Brown and Johnson then fled, with Wilson in pursuit of Brown. Brown stopped and turned to face the officer, then Brown moved toward him.[6] Wilson fired at Brown several times, all shots striking him in the front, with the possible exception of the two bullets fired into Brown's right arm.[7] In the entire altercation, Wilson fired a total of twelve bullets;[8] the last was probably the fatal shot.[9][10][11] Brown was unarmed and moving toward Wilson when the final shots were fired. Witness reports differed as to what Brown was doing with his hands when he was shot, but the U.S. Department of Justice found that those witnesses who said that Brown had his hands up in surrender were not credible.[12]

The shooting sparked unrest in Ferguson. The "hands up" account was widely circulated within the black community immediately after the shooting and it contributed to the strong protests and outrage about the killing of the unarmed man. The U.S. Department of Justice did not conclude that the "hands up" account was inaccurate until months later.[13] Believing accounts that Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot, protesters chanted, "Hands up, don't shoot." Protests, both peaceful and violent, along with vandalism and looting, continued for


I remember the "officer" initially told them the to get the 'f' out of the street it wasn't until after the shooting that the cigar theft was thrown in to the mix. To backfill after the fact.

Am I wrong?