On Friday, authorities in Ferguson, Missouri released surveillance camera video from the convenience store that was robbed just moments before the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The video shows a man, who is now believed to be Brown, shoving a clerk before making off with a $50 box of cigars.
Watch the surveillance footage below:
Many, including Brown’s family, have expressed outrage over the police’s decision to release the video because it changes the narrative of the conversation surrounding Brown’s death. During an appearance on Face the Nation on Sunday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon jumped on the bandwagon saying the video is “clearly” an attempt to “besmirch the victim.”
After CBS News’ Bob Schieffer stumbled through a question about whether the release of the footage “made the situation worse,” Nixon said there has been “an incendiary effect.”
"I think it had an incendiary effect," Nixon said. "When you release pictures and you clearly are attempting to besmirch a victim of a shooting, shot down in his own street, a young man, and at the same time you're releasing information... to tarnish him, then properly, there was a lot of folks that were concerned about that, and I do think it flamed it back up and has caused us to have to deal with some of that."
Watch the Face the Nation interview below:
“This is unbelievable to me,” Pat said of Nixon’s remarks on radio this morning.
Stu admitted that if the video had been from an incident that happened several months ago, then, yes, it could be seen as an attempt to tarnish Brown’s reputation. The video in question, however, sheds light on a confrontation that occurred just minutes before the shooting – making it an important piece of evidence.
“If it happened six months ago, you could make this argument,” Stu said. “It happened 10 minutes before the shooting. It's the event immediately before the thing we're talking about. It seems relevant to me. It's the most relevant video that's ever been released along with a shooting like this. Now, that does not mean you get executed for stealing cigars.”
Front page image courtesy of the AP