Anonymous Releases Dispatch Audio Tapes From Michael Brown Shooting, Vows To ID Killer

The hacker collective Anonymous released police dispatch audio tapes Wednesday from the shooting of Michael Brown. The group also vowed to identify the police officer who shot the unarmed teen Saturday afternoon.

The audio tapes were released by Anonymous in a YouTube video lasting almost two hours. In the description, the hacktivist collective writes that the video “contains audio of St. Louis police dispatch from the date of August 9th 2014, the day Mike Brown was murdered by a Ferguson PD officer.”

The group explained that it is releasing “these tapes to the public so they are able to get a sense of the atmosphere the moments before and the hours after Mike Brown was shot.” The video includes time stamps and reportedly show that Ferguson PD denied knowing anything about the shooting, which was called in to dispatch by a witness. No EMS was called to the scene, according to the tapes.

Ferguson Police Chief Jon Belmar promised earlier this week to release the name of the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. However, Belmar backed down from the promise over fears of the officer’s safety.

Mother Jones’ Josh Harkinson reported Wednesday that Anonymous will release the officer’s identification as soon as it makes final confirmation. Harkinson, who traded emails Tuesday night with a core Anonymous member working on Operation Ferguson, noted that the group is still working to verify the shooter’s identity.

The Anonymous member wrote that the group’s source “is very close personally to the officer who killed Mike Brown.” He added that the source “reached out to us, we did not seek out this person.”

Anonymous launched Operation Ferguson Saturday night, hours after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The group shut down the city’s website Sunday night, posted the home address and number of Belmar Tuesday morning, then dropped an email bomb that flooded city and police inboxes with junk messages.

The anon member, whom Harkinson calls Fawkes, stated that the goal of those incidents was “to get journalists like you to do interviews with us, and incidentally maybe talk about the issue at hand in the process.” Fawkes added, “Looks like it worked.”

While Anonymous released the audio tapes from the St. Louis police dispatch center, it’s likely that any information about the actual shooting will be found in the Ferguson Police Department’s audio dispatches. Those tapes have not been released and Ferguson’s Police Chief Thomas Jackson told reporters Wednesday that the 911 tapes are still being processed.

While they have not yet identified the officer who shot Michael Brown, there is no doubt Anonymous will release the information once it is confirmed.

[Image: NBC News]