Breaking News: According To Private Autopsy, Michael Brown Was Not Shot In The Back

A preliminary private autopsy reveals that Michael Brown, the unarmed teenager from Ferguson, Missouri, was shot at least six times. None of the bullets entered in his back.

Dr. Michael M. Baden, former Chief Medical Examiner for New York City, was flown in to Missouri on Sunday, at the request of the family of 18-year-old Michael Brown, to perform a private autopsy. He was assisted by Professor Shawn L. Parcells, a pathologist assistant from Kansas.

According to the New York Times, Dr. Baden’s autopsy findings reveal that the fatal, and likely the final, bullet entered the top of Michael Brown’s skull, and another entered his right eye. The other four hit his right arm. All of the bullets were fired into the front of Brown’s body.

Some of the rumors about the shooting of the unarmed teen have accused the officer of shooting Michael Brown in the back, a version which Dr. Baden’s autopsy does not support.

It is unlikely that any shots were fired at point-blank range, reports the NY Daily News, because there was no gunpowder residue found on his body. There are not yet results from Michael Brown’s clothing as to whether or not there is gunpowder residue on his clothes.

Only three bullets were recovered from Brown’s body, but Dr. Baden has not yet seen the reports of where in his body they were found. Nor has he seen statements from witnesses or police. The bullets left multiple wounds, and the one that hit his eye exited through his jaw and re-entered near his collar-bone.

Though different aspects of the autopsy support different versions of what happened, Dr. Bader was quick to point out that his findings neither condemn nor justify the shooting at this point. There is still too much information that is not yet available, such as whether or not there is gunshot residue in the police officer’s vehicle.

Speaking about the bullet wound on the top of Michael Brown’s head, Dr. Michael Baden said, “This one here looks like his head was bent downward. It can be because he’s giving up, or because he’s charging forward at the officer.” The Inquisitr earlier reported that a friend of Officer Darren Wilson told the Dana Loesch that Michael Brown “bum-rushed” the officer, a claim which may possibly be supported by the autopsy findings.

The former host of the HBO program Autopsy, Dr. Michael Baden, 80, is a well-known medical examiner who has performed over 20,000 autopsies during his long and distinguished career. He is part of a very small field: there are only about 400 board-certified forensic pathologists in the entire United States. As such, he has participated in several high-profile cases, including reviewing the autopsies of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Attorney General Eric Holder stated Sunday that the Justice Department still plans to conduct its own autopsy of Michael Brown’s body, according to a department spokesman, because of “the extraordinary circumstances involved in this case and at the request of the Brown family.”

[images via The Washington Post, and Dr. Michael Baden]