text: Story highlights Officer who shot Michael Brown treated for "swollen face," police say 
   
   Police, witnesses offer starkly contrasting accounts of Brown's shooting 
   
   Witnesses, Brown's friend say the officer opened fire after a verbal altercation 
   
   Police chief: Brown assaulted the officer and struggled with him over his weapon 
   
   It's a case of he said, he said. The accounts of why a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown on a street in Ferguson, Missouri, on Saturday couldn't be more disparate. 
   
   One side says the teenager was surrendering, his hands in the air to show he was unarmed, when the officer opened fire. Authorities counter that Brown attacked the officer in his car and tried to take his gun. 
   
   The St. Louis suburb of 21,000 was wracked by violence as protesters outraged over the 18-year-old's shooting faced off with police. 
   
   Although there were reports that some demonstrations were peaceful -- protesters held up their hands, as Brown reportedly did, and others demanded a fair inquiry, chanting, "No justice, no peace" -- there were also reports of fires, looting, vandalism and attacks on police officers. 
   
   As federal civil rights investigators and the FBI carry out their own inquiry into the case, tensions are running high in Ferguson, where there's a history of distrust between the predominately black community and the largely white police force. 
   
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   Brown was African-American. Police have not identified the shooter, but a witness told CNN on Tuesday that the officer who opened fire is a Caucasian male. 
   
   The dispute between distraught Ferguson residents and police isn't likely to be settled soon. 
   
   One thing is sure, though: What police say was self-defense by the yet-to-be-named officer doesn't jibe with the accounts of those who say they saw the encounter. 
   
   Here's what CNN has learned: 
   
   Brown was spending the summer in the neighborhood with his grandmother Desuirea Harris, she told CNN affiliate KMOV . She described him as "a good kid." 
   
   Family members say he was a recent graduate of nearby Normandy High School and was going to begin classes at Vatterott College on Monday. 
   
   Brown and a friend were walking to Harris' house, his mother and grandmother said, when a Ferguson police officer confronted them. 
   
   This is where the stories part ways. 
   
   Dorian Johnson, 22, told CNN that he and Brown were walking in the middle of the street when a white male officer pulled up and told them, "Get the f*** on the sidewalk." The young men replied that they were "not but a minute away from our destination, and we would shortly be out of the street," Johnson said. 
   
   The officer drove forward but stopped and backed up, almost hitting the pair, Johnson said. 
   
   "We were so close, almost inches away, that when he tried to open his door aggressively, the door ricocheted both off me and Big Mike's body and closed back on the officer," Johnson said. 
   
   Still in his car, the officer then grabbed Brown by his neck, Johnson said. Brown tried to pull away, but the officer kept pulling Brown toward him, he said. 
   
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   The officer drew his weapon, and "he said, 'I'll shoot you' or 'I'm going to shoot' " and almost instantaneously fired his weapon, hitting Brown, Johnson said. 
   
   Johnson and a bloodied Brown took off running, and Johnson hid behind the first car he saw, he said. The officer got out of his car. 
   
   "I saw the officer proceeding after my friend Big Mike with his gun drawn, and he fired a second shot and that struck my friend Big Mike," Johnson told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "And at that time, he turned around with his hands up, beginning to tell the officer that he was unarmed and to tell him to stop shooting. But at that time, the officer firing several more shots into my friend, and he hit the ground and died." 
   
   "We wasn't committing any crime, bringing no harm to nobody, but my friend was murdered in cold blood," he told KMOV 
   
   Witness Tiffany Mitchell was picking up Piaget Crenshaw for work when she saw Brown and the officer "tussling through the window." Mitchell and Crenshaw concurred with Johnson, saying Brown appeared to be trying to pry himself away from the officer's grasp. Brown had his hand on the police cruiser, trying to push himself away, Mitchell said. 
   
   Mitchell reached for her phone to record the encounter. 
   
   "I didn't get the video because a shot was fired through the window so I tried to get out of the way," she said. 
   
   After that shot, Brown broke free from the officer's grasp, both women told CNN, and started running, but he only got about 20 feet from the squad car by Crenshaw's estimate. 
   
   "The cop gets out of his vehicle shooting," Mitchell said. "(Brown's) body jerked as if he was hit from behind, and he turned around and he put his hands up. ... The cop continued to fire until he just dropped down to the ground, and his face just smacked the concrete." 
   
   Added Crenshaw, who said she was watching the incident unfold from a nearby balcony, "The (officer) actually shot kind of carelessly. They shot my neighbor's building that was on the opposite side of the police car. They then later came and removed that bullet. ... Anybody could've been standing right there." 
   
   That Brown was unarmed is undisputed -- St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said every casing found at the scene was from the officer's weapon -- but he said at a Sunday news conference that Brown was not an innocent victim. 
   
   "The genesis of this was a physical confrontation," Belmar said, adding that Ferguson police asked his office to investigate the case. 
   
   Without revealing what led to the dispute, Belmar said the preliminary investigation showed that the Ferguson officer tried to exit his vehicle, but Brown pushed him back into the car, "where he physically assaulted the police officer" and struggled over the officer's weapon, Belmar said. 
   
   A shot was fired inside the police car, and Brown was eventually shot about 35 feet away from the vehicle, Belmar said. 
   
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   The officer was taken to an area hospital where he was treated for a "swollen face," Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said, adding he had not personally seen the officer's injury. 
   
   He was released the same day. Jackson said he has spoken to the officer, who was "very shaken about what happened that day and the aftermath. ... He's hurt." 
   
   It's unclear how many times Brown was shot. Mitchell said it was "more than about five or six" times. Johnson said it was more than three, and Brown's mother said she was told he was shot eight times. Some witnesses said they heard as many as 10 shots. Belmar said only that it "was more than just a couple." 
   
   The chief didn't explain how Brown got so far away from the car or whether he was surrendering. He said he was declining to disclose certain details because he didn't want to "prejudice" the case. 
   
   The officer is on paid administrative leave. There's no word on when authorities will identify him, but Belmar said he has been with the force six years and is "unaware of any other issues that he's been involved in." 
   
   He will be required to undergo two psychological evaluations before returning to duty, the chief said. 
   
   Meanwhile, Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, didn't need to know his identity to direct some pointed words at the man who shot the son she knew as a "gentle giant." 
   
   "You're not God. You don't decide when you're going to take somebody from here," she told KSDK. ||||| Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer Saturday afternoon. (Photo: None Family via KSDK TV) 
   
   Michael Brown, the 18-year-old shot dead Saturday night in an altercation with a police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, had been eager to start college Monday, his mother said. 
   
   "He wanted to be really good in visual arts and heating and cooling," Lesley McSpadden told USA TODAY. "He was really good with his hands and taking things apart and putting them back together. He was almost like a healer. 
   
   "He fixed things. He didn't create problems. He fixed things. My son was sweet. He didn't mean any harm to anybody." 
   
   A sobbing McSpadden later spoke at a press conference Monday evening alongside Michael Brown, Sr., the late teen's father. Together, they pleaded for people not to riot or be violent and to reflect the peaceful nature of their dead child. 
   
   "He was a good boy," said Brown's father who wore a shirt with his son's photo on it. "He didn't deserve none of this. We need justice for our son." 
   
   Brown's parents asked anyone who witnessed the fatal shooting to come forward and speak to authorities. They also asked anyone with video or other recordings to turn that information over to federal investigators, the NAACP or Brown's family. 
   
   Brown's family has retained attorney Benjamin Crump, best known as the attorney for the family of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a white neighborhood watch volunteer, in Florida. 
   
   Crump, who stood by the parents at the evening press conference, said too many unarmed young men of color have died at the hands of authorities or those acting as authorities. 
   
   "I don't want to sugarcoat it, their baby was executed in broad daylight," the attorney said of Brown. "We want to know and see exactly what happened because this family rejects what the police authorities said at their press conference." 
   
   Crump went on to say that Brown's death is an echo of the problems that led to the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and Eric Garner. 
   
   Brown, who dreamed of owning his own business one day, had graduated from Normandy High School in St. Louis and was set to start classes Monday at Vatterott College, a local trade school 
   
   His death sparked a wave of anger that exploded into a night of rioting and looting that led to more than 30 arrests and two officers injured, 
   
   McSpadden described her son as a sweet young man, a "gentle giant." 
   
   "He was a big teddy bear," she said. "He touched everybody. My son was the type of person that everybody flocked to him. Everybody wanted to know about Michael. Everybody wanted to be around Michael." 
   
   McSpadden said she does not want her son's death to be a reason for rioting. 
   
   "I would not want them to get out there and use my son's situation for their personal anger," she said. "That's not what I want them to do. We are out there marching for justice for my son and peace for my family." 
   
   She said she wants the officer who killed her son to face the criminal justice system. 
   
   "He needs to be held accountable for what he did," McSpadden said. 
   
   Lesley McSpadden is comforted by her husband, Louis Head, after her son, Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9, 2014. (Photo: Huy Mach, AP) 
   
   Those who knew Brown say they have a hard time believing that the quiet, funny teen who loved rap music could have been involved in such an altercation. 
   
   Gerard Fuller, 18, has known Michael Brown since they met in second grade at Pine Lawn Elementary School in St. Louis. Fuller remembered his friend as a giant who was extremely kind. The two young men attended elementary, middle and high school together. 
   
   Fuller said when he heard the news that Brown was killed in a confrontation with police officers, he was devastated. And he said he instantly thought the police were lying. 
   
   "In all my time knowing him, I never saw him get into a fight or an altercation with anybody so I know he wouldn't go for a police officer's gun," Fuller told USA TODAY. "I just know he wouldn't do that." 
   
   Fuller, who lives in an apartment complex behind Brown's grandmother where the teen was killed Saturday, thinks the officer who shot Brown may have been intimated by him because of the teen's size. 
   
   "They (police) ride up and down the street always ---like they mess with people around Ferguson but I would never think it would go this far," Fuller said. 
   
   He added that he believes police officers often stop people walking around in the neighborhood without reason. 
   
   Fuller said ever since elementary school, Brown had big dreams. While many students wanted to be football or basketball players, "He was the only person who would say I want to own my own business," said Fuller, who heads to Arkansas Baptist College Friday. 
   
   As the two matured, Brown became a quiet figure who would walk around with headphones listening to rap artists like Tupac and Young Jeezy. Recently, Brown even did some rapping of his own, posting songs on Fuller's Facebook page, Fuller said. 
   
   He and Brown often talked about their futures and memories from the tight knit community. Fuller last saw Brown Wednesday when the two talked about their childhoods and the futures ahead of them. 
   
   "He said he wasn't going to end up like some people on the streets," Hershel Johnson, a friend of Brown since middle school, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "He was going to get an education. He was going to make his life a whole lot better." 
   
   In one of the last posts identified by the newspaper as Brown's Facebook page, the teen posts a prophetic message. "if I leave this earth today," it said, "at least youll know i care about others more then I cared about my damn self." 
   
   Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1opxPsH ||||| During the altercation a shot was fired inside the car, Belmar said. The officer and Brown then got out of the car, and at that point the fatal shooting occurred, Belmar said. Brown was shot "more than just a couple of times," but it was unclear how many shots were fired, Belmar said. ||||| Ferguson, Missouri (CNN) -- Hours after federal civil rights investigators and the FBI opened an inquiry into the death of a teenager shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, violence flared again in the St. Louis suburb. 
   
   Police Chief Thomas Jackson told CNN shots were fired Monday night in Ferguson, and police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd that had gathered in an area where looting occurred Sunday. 
   
   "Officers were brought in to quell the hostilities," he said. "Tear gas was deployed." 
   
   The Saturday-night shooting, which left 18-year-old Michael Brown dead, has fueled rising tensions in the town of 21,000 and sparked national debate. 
   
   One side says the African-American teenager was surrendering, his hands in the air to show he was unarmed, when the officer opened fire. Authorities counter that Brown had attacked the officer in his car and tried to take his gun. 
   
   After a vigil for the teen devolved into chaos Sunday when violence and looting broke out among some protesters, NAACP President Cornell William Brooks called Monday for people protesting Brown's death to do so nonviolently. 
   
   "We have seen young people giving in to violence and frustration and rage. It may be inexcusable. It is not unexpected," Brooks told reporters. "But I say to my young brothers and sisters, note the young man whose rage is your heart, note that he was nonviolent. He never got into a fight. If you want to honor his memory, honor his memory by seeking justice nonviolently." 
   
   Witnesses to Brown's shooting say he was unarmed and had his hands in the air when the police officer shot him. 
   
   Authorities tell a different story. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar says the officer tried to get out of his vehicle just before the shooting, but Brown pushed him back into his car. 
   
   Brown "physically assaulted" the officer, Belmar said, and the teen tried to get the officer's weapon. 
   
   Brown was shot about 35 feet from the vehicle, the chief said, declining to provide more details. The officer's name has not been released by authorities. 
   
   "The genesis of this was a physical confrontation," Belmar said, adding that his department has been called in to conduct an independent investigation. 
   
   The Ferguson Police Department said its cars are not equipped with dashboard cameras. 
   
   Shell casings collected at the scene were from the officer's weapon, Belmar said. 
   
   Monday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the shooting "deserves a fulsome review" by federal investigators. 
   
   "At every step, we will work with the local investigators, who should be prepared to complete a thorough, fair investigation in their own right. I will continue to receive regular updates on this matter in the coming days," Holder said in a statement. "Aggressively pursuing investigations such as this is critical for preserving trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve." 
   
   Mother: 'No violence, just justice' 
   
   The lawyer representing Brown's parents called Monday for a swift investigation. 
   
   "We want this investigation to be done fairly, and we make a demand to the Justice Department to come in and help restore trust and confidence in the process of equal justice. ... This family is very distrustful. This community is very distrustful," attorney Benjamin Crump told reporters, calling for witnesses to come forward. 
   
   Brown's parents urged people to remain calm. 
   
   "No violence, just justice," the teen's mother, Lesley McSpadden, told reporters. 
   
   McSpadden said her son recently graduated from high school and was supposed to start college Monday. 
   
   "We can't even celebrate," she said. "We've got to plan a funeral." 
   
   Standing beside the teen's family, Brooks said the NAACP is committed to determining what happened. 
   
   "We are committed to this family, committed to seeking justice, committed to being a presence, day-in and day-out," he told reporters. 
   
   Mayor calls for calm 
   
   "Obviously, the events of last night are not indicative of who we are," Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said on CNN on Monday morning, adding that Sunday night's chaos was "not constructive" and was only "bringing down the community." 
   
   St. Louis County Police said 32 people were arrested and shots were fired at police. 
   
   Monday, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch said charges had been filed against about 10 people in connection with burglaries of several businesses. 
   
   "What occurred last night, the mob action, we know certainly is not representative of what's going on and what the people in the neighborhood necessarily think," he said. 
   
   Flanked by several from the community Sunday, McSpadden was McSpadden was emotional as she shouted into a television reporter's microphone. 
   
   "You took my son away from me! You know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in school and graduate? You know how many black men graduate? Not many!" she said. "Because you bring them down to this type of level where they feel they don't got nothing to live for anyway! (They feel) they gonna try to take me out anyway!" 
   
   Others who gathered shouted at police. 
   
   "We will stay out here as long as you are!" they screamed at officers. 
   
   Many of the officers appeared stoic, watching young men kneel before them and raise their hands up to symbolize surrender, but one officer can be heard on video yelling back, calling protesters "animals." 
   
   Some in Ferguson are demanding that the name of the officer who shot the teenager be released. 
   
   Monday afternoon, Jackson -- the police chief -- said he plans to release the name in the next 24 hours. Authorities want to make sure the officer is in a safe location, he said. 
   
   'Lost control' 
   
   "Last night, everything lost control," Knowles said Monday. 
   
   He was asked about the officer who called protesters "animals." 
   
   "The officers did their best. They're only human," Knowles responded, adding that not every police officer present was from the Ferguson department. 
   
   Sunday's gathering became more intense as some people broke windows at a store and began taking things from it. They threw rocks and bottles. Gunshots rang out. 
   
   Antonio French, an alderman in St. Louis, said a QuikTrip gas station was looted and an ATM dragged out. 
   
   "This QuikTrip is where things started (Saturday) with this case, based on various accounts," French said. 
   
   The slain teenager and a friend were "accused of stealing gum from the store or some sort of cigarettes," the alderman said. 
   
   "People have a lot of anger and are frustrated," French said. "They don't have recourse in the system, and it happens often in this country, and it has boiled over. I think people are angry and looking for a reason to let it out tonight." 
   
   Knowles said he wants to let the independent investigation into Brown's death take its course. He plans to meet with Brown's parents soon and will meet with clergy in Ferguson and African-American leadership in the town. 
   
   Whatever the investigation's findings, "we will deal with that," he said. 
   
   Multiple gunshots 
   
   An autopsy will determine how many times Brown was shot. The medical examiner for St. Louis County, Mary Case, said Monday afternoon the autopsy is complete, but she would not give details and said St. Louis County police will release the information. 
   
   Toxicology results on Brown's body are pending. 
   
   On the number of times Brown might have been shot, Belmar has said, "It was more than just a couple." 
   
   "We don't know what happened, and there are lots of conflicting stories," Knowles said. "Unfortunately, there will have to be some time taken to understand what happened. Hopefully, we will get to an understanding, and justice will be served." 
   
   The officer who shot Brown is on paid administrative leave during the investigation and will be available to talk to county homicide detectives. 
   
   He has been with the force for six years and will be required to undergo two psychological evaluations before returning to duty, Belmar said. 
   
   Crump, who also handled the case of Trayvon Martin in Florida, said Monday that Brown's family is "devastated" and doesn't believe that the teenager got into a physical confrontation with police. 
   
   Martin, 17, was killed in 2012 by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was acquitted last year of murder charges. 
   
   The high-profile case sparked a heated nationwide discussion of race as well as debate over Florida's "stand your ground" law. 
   
   Monday, Crump said Brown's shooting once again highlights "the senseless death of a young boy of color at the hands of people who are supposed to protect and serve them." 
   
   "Their son was doing all the right things," Crump said. "Graduating from high school, never been in trouble. And for this to happen, for him to be killed in broad daylight ... they want answers just like everybody else in the community." 
   
   Trayvon Martin case fast facts 
   
   Opinion: How many unarmed people have to die? 
   
   CNN's Ashley Fantz and Catherine E. Shoichet wrote in Atlanta, and George Howell reported from Missouri. CNN's Devon Sayers, Shawn Nottingham, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Shimon Prokupecz, Julian Cummings, Jason Carroll, Dave Mattingly, Dave Alsup, Melanie Whitley, Joe Sutton, Faith Karimi, Mayra Cuevas, Shirley Henry, Julian Cummings and Tristan Smith contributed to this report.
target: – The St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo., was the scene of another evening of rioting and unrest last night as largely young, black crowds faced off against a mostly white police force that reportedly responded with tear gas, reports the Los Angeles Times. But the family of slain teenager Michael Brown, 18, asked the community to remain peaceful so that no more lives will be lost. "No violence, just justice," his mother told reporters. While some demonstrators got down on their knees with their hands raised in symbolic surrender, others shouted, "We will stay out here as long as you are!" Some of the police did not appear to respond to the taunts, while others were caught on camera calling the protesters "animals," reports CNN. Two very different stories have emerged surrounding the shooting of Brown, who was set to start technical college yesterday, two days after he was killed, reports CNN in another review of the details. While the police report suggests Brown, who'd been walking with a friend in the street, attacked an officer in his police car and tried to take his gun when the officer told him to use the sidewalk, witnesses say the officer fired after a verbal altercation and that as Brown turned away and fled he was shot once, then at least twice more after he put his hands in the air. Police have not disputed that Brown was unarmed. The police officer who shot him, a six-year veteran of the force, is on paid administrative leave. USA Today reports that one of Brown's last Facebook posts included the words: "if I leave this earth today, at least youll know i care about others more then I cared about my damn self." The FBI, meanwhile, has taken over the investigation.