"I JUST SAW SOMEONE DIE OMFG"

[kpete]

A Twitter user appears to have provided a contemporaneous account from the scene of the Ferguson, Mo., police shooting of Michael Brown, 18, on Saturday, Aug. 9.

The account of the incident was found and curated by Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES). The first tweets by @TheePharoah, whose Twitter biography says he lives in St. Louis, are timestamped for TPM at the time of the shooting (1 p.m. ET on Aug. 9; the shooting occurred at 12 p.m. CT, or 1 p.m ET).

The tweets also include at least one detail -- that Brown had allegedly stolen cigarillos from a nearby convenience store -- that was not public until Friday. TPM could not immediately independently verify the authenticity of the tweets, and there is no way to know if this user's account is an accurate or complete depiction of the events of the day.

However, they do appear to be the only contemporaneous and recorded eyewitness account of the events to surface thus far. They are thus significant because they were recorded before it could be known that Brown's death would become a matter of intense national news interest.

Below are a few of the tweets. Click the link for the full account, which includes at least one image that may be disturbing for some.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/twitter-user-michael-brown-shooting-ferguson

[BronxBoy]

1. The details of the shootings...

are more devastating to me than the mention of the "rellos" If authentic and true, this is a description of a murder. One than has been described by several witnesses

[sunnystarr]

2. I think the cigarillo reference

was coincidental. Like that's why black males would get shot by police. There was no way for him to know anything about the very recent shoplifting. However, it was probably common to shoplift that item.

[kelliekat44]

3. Also,the Chief of Police said that the cop that shot and killed Brown knew nothing about the alleged

shoplifting.

[cojoel]

4. That particular tweet happened later

The time stamp is 2:33 CST, well over 2 hours after the shooting. It is possible by then somewhat had talked to Dorian Johnson and there was gossip to be had within that small community.

[Ms. Toad]

7. I suspect he overheard the police talking at the scene.

That comment came about 1.5 hours after the shooting - time for the police to connect the dots.

[bigtree]

5. kick

[tblue37]

6. This is damning evidence for the shooter:

"dude was running and the cops just shot.him. i saw him die bruh"

[MohRokTah]

8. The tweets basically corroborate the story told by Johnson and Mitchell.

Last five shots he was facing the cop.