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Autopsy: Michael Brown shot at least six times

A photo of Michael Brown held up at a rally.
A photo of Michael Brown held up at a rally.
Joe Raedle / Getty Images News

Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown at least six times, according to a preliminary, independent autopsy report obtained by the New York Times. All the shots appeared to come from the front, and at least two struck Brown on the head.*

One of the bullets appears to have hit the top of Brown's head. "This one here looks like his head was bent downward," Dr. Michael Baden, who conducted the autopsy on behalf of Brown's family, told the New York Times. "It can be because he's giving up, or because he's charging forward at the officer."

It didn't appear the bullets were fired at close range, because there was no gunpowder residue on Brown's body. There could be gunpowder residue on Brown's clothes, which Baden didn't have access to during his inspection.

Baden told the New York Times that Brown would not have survived the shooting even if he had been taken to the hospital right away.

The federal government will conduct a third autopsy on Brown's body, at the request of Brown's family. The St. Louis County prosecutor did not release the details of his department's own autopsy on the body.

*Correction: The original version of this article stated that the autopsy found Brown had been shot in the head three times. It was actually two times.

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