Darren Wilson: Who Is The Man Behind The Gun In The Michael Brown Shooting?

Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson has been in hiding since the Michael Brown shooting. Wilson has opted against making any public statement since the shooting death of the unarmed black teenager, but unnamed police sources, friends, and supporters who started a legal fund in his name have begun to shed some light on the character and background of the police officer.

Darren Wilson, unlike many in our modern world, appears to not have been a social media frequenter, so tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram images which often pop up after a controversial incident goes viral, have not surfaced. Research conducted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch into the life of the Ferguson police officer who was allegedly “badly beaten” by Mike Brown before the fatal shooting, offers some background history of the 28-year-old man.

Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson Background Information Compiled From Public Records

• Wilson was born May 1986 in Fort Worth, Texas. His parents are Tonya and John Wilson. His mother was a 19-year-old receptionist at a YMCA at the time of his birth and his father, 32, was a public school teacher and an athletic coach.

• Darren Wilson’s parents divorced in 1989. Tonya Wilson then married Tyler Harris and move to the area of St. Louis, Missouri. The couple had a son, Jared, in 1991. During the late 90s the family moved to a home in St. Peters. The couple divorced in 1998. Darren Wilson’s mother then married Daniel Robert Durso.

• Also in 1998, the Ferguson police officer’s mother was charged with three counts of stealing by deceit in St. Charles County. The woman allegedly passed bad checks at Truman Bank.
• In 2000 she was also charged with forgery and stealing. Those charges stemmed from allegations that she passed a forged check for $9,000 and used another woman’s credit card. In both cases, she pleaded guilty and was ultimately sentenced to five years of probation.

• In 2002 Tonya and Daniel Robert Durso reportedly faced financial struggles and filed bankruptcy in 2002. In November of the same year Darren Wilson’s mother died of blockages in both her lungs and arteries.

• In 2003, Tyler Harris, the Ferguson police officer’s first step-father, filed for limited guardianship of Darren. The legal filing was reportedly conducted so the young man could register for his senior year of high school and garner medical insurance. John Wilson agreed to the limited guardianship so his son could finish attending St. Charles West High School.

• In St. Charles West High School yearbook photos Darren Wilson was reportedly shown featuring a “rock star” or “surfer” look with a “mop of hair.” The Ferguson police officer was on the varsity hockey team and a member of the yearbook staff.

• In 2011, Darren Wilson married Ashley Brown. The couple purchased a home in the town of Troy in Lincoln County. The home was sold a year later, several months after Wilson filed for divorce from Ashley Brown. The divorce filing was conducted four months after a separation and finalized in 2013.

• In October of the same year he purchased a home in Crestwood. Darren Wilson reportedly still owns the home which he shared with his girlfriend Barbara Spradling. The girlfriend is also a Ferguson police officer.

• Prior to becoming a member of the Ferguson Police Department, Darren Wilson was a member of the Jennings Police Department for two years. There are reportedly no disciplinary filings on his record.

• Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson describes Wilson as an “excellent officer” and a “quiet, gentle man.” During a Ferguson City Council meeting earlier this year, Darren Wilson was heralded for the way he handled a suspicious vehicle calls which involved a struggle with the man inside.

Do you think the grand jury will hand down an indictment in the Darren Wilson Michael Brown shooting case in Ferguson?

[Image Via: The Gateway Pundit]