Dorian Johnson, who was with Michael Brown Jr., when he was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014, died on Sunday from gunfire injuries, the authorities said. Mr. Brown’s death 11 years earlier touched off nationwide protests and calls for racial justice.
Police officers responded to a call of shots fired at about 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, the Ferguson Police Department said in a statement. After arriving at the scene, officers found that a man had died. A police spokeswoman, Patricia A. Washington, identified the man as Mr. Johnson, 33.
“No officers, Ferguson or otherwise, were involved in this incident other than to begin our investigation,” the department said in its statement.
No one has been charged in the shooting, said Christopher King, a spokesman for the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office. But the police said they were investigating and had one person in custody.
As Mr. Brown’s friend and companion on the day Mr. Brown was shot, Mr. Johnson was a witness to the events that led to calls for changes in police tactics and greater accountability and transparency for police departments. Nationwide demonstrations took place amid a rallying cry of “Hands up, don’t shoot,” which became a slogan adopted by members of Congress, recording artists, advocacy groups and athletes.
On Aug. 9, 2014, Mr. Brown, an 18-year-old unarmed teenager, and Mr. Johnson were walking in the middle of Canfield Drive in Ferguson when Officer Darren Wilson, speaking through the window of his police vehicle, told them to move to the sidewalk. Officer Wilson blocked them with his vehicle and radioed that Mr. Brown fit the description of a suspect in a theft.
After an altercation, Mr. Brown ran, and Officer Wilson pursued him. Mr. Brown stopped and turned, and moved toward Officer Wilson, who fired several shots. Mr. Brown was fatally wounded by a gunshot to the head, according to a Justice Department report that cleared Officer Wilson in 2015.
Witness accounts differed on the crucial moments before the shooting.
Officer Wilson said that Mr. Brown had lowered his arms and moved toward him, and that he had decided to use deadly force when he feared that Mr. Brown was going to attack him. Other witnesses, including Mr. Johnson, said that Mr. Brown did not move toward the officer and that he had his hands up before the shots were fired.
The attorney general at the time, Eric H. Holder Jr., cast doubt on the “hands up” account, even as he described Ferguson as having a racially biased police department and justice system.
Organizers of protests in the aftermath of Mr. Brown’s death said that no matter what Mr. Brown had been doing with his hands, he had still been shot at least six times, and his body had been left in the street for hours.
Christine Hauser is a Times reporter who writes breaking news stories, features and explainers.
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