Michael Brady was in bed trying to sleep. Although he already had slept more than two hours since 9 a.m., his sleep had been interrupted when a friend came to visit. They talked on the balcony for a few minutes. The friend left. Michael, still sleepy and probably hung over, went back to bed at about 11:45 a.m. to sleep some more.
Fiancée Brady was sitting in the kitchen, eating and talking on the phone with her sister.
He heard a loud noise coming from the street. The noise sounded like unintelligible voices and the hitting of metal. He did not hear any gunshots. Fiancée Brady did not hear any such noise.
Reacting slowly, he got out of bed and moved to the window. He looked at the scene, comprehending it slowly.
The first gunshot was fired inside the police vehicle, and echoes resounded. Michael Brady heard the gunshot sounds, but was confused by them. Looking through the police vehicle's front, passenger-side window, he saw Darren Wilson and Michael Brown "exchanging arms" (limbs) through the vehicle's driver-side window. Fiancée Brady did not hear that gunshot.
Dorian Johnson, "all of the sudden" coming from the Monte Carlo, appeared into Michael Brady's view. Johnson stood several feet away from the police vehicle's front, passenger-side bumper. Johnson's sudden appearance complicated Brady's effort to comprehend the scene.
Brown and Johnson, almost simultaneously, ran away from the police vehicle. Brown ran down the middle of the street, and Johnson ran back to the Monte Carlo and stood behind its rear end.
The second gunshot was fired inside the police vehicle, and echoes resounded. Brady heard these gunshot sounds but was confused by them. After all, Brown and Johnson now were running away from the police vehicle's passenger side, while Wilson still was sitting in the vehicle's driver seat. Brady wondered: who was shooting and at what?
Fiancée Brady, still in the kitchen, eating and talking by phone with her sister, did not hear this second gunshot either.
Still standing by the bedroom window, Michael yelled: "Baby, look out the window. They're shooting."
The fiancée ran to the sliding glass door, and the family's three small boys ran there too. She looked through the vertical blinds and saw Wilson chasing Brown in the street.
Michael Brady remained at the bedroom window, focusing on Johnson and Wilson. Several times, Johnson ducked down repeatedly. Brady thought that Wilson was shooting repeatedly and Johnson was ducking down each time Wilson shot.
Still looking through the vertical blinds, Fiancée Brady was focusing on Wilson and Brown, not yet on Johnson. She did not see or hear Wilson shooting.
Still looking through the bedroom window, Michael Brady watched Wilson run past the Monte Carlo and Johnson. Michael Brady decided that now he would run out onto the balcony. As he ran through the living room to the sliding glass door, his path was blocked by his fiancee and three boys, all of whom were standing by and looking through the sliding glass door, which still was closed.
Michael Brady then headed for the front door -- the other, farther exit onto the balcony.
As Fiancée Brady continued to watch the event through the sliding glass door, Brown passed out of her view, which was blocked by another building. Wilson paused and stopped chasing. She said: "Well, I guess the guy [Brown] got away, because I don't see him [Wilson] walking anymore."
Hearing that statement, Michael Brown decided to go back into the bedroom to get his cell phone, which he would use to film the scene and to narrate his commentary.
Fiancée Brady opened the sliding glass door and exited onto the balcony. Since Wilson continued to stand still, she focused on Johnson and saw him jump into the Monte Carlo.
As Wilson continued to stand still, she told her three boys that they too could come out onto the balcony. She focused her attention on them and did not notice that Wilson resumed walking toward Brown and now disappeared from her balcony view.
In the bedroom, Michael Brady fussed about his cell phone, finding it and turning it on. He returned through the living room. Seeing that the balcony beyond the sliding glass door was crowded by his fiancée and three sons, he returned to the front door.
The view being blocked by the other building, Brown began charging at Wilson, who Wilson began shooting.
First Wilson and then Brown reappeared into view. Fiancée Brady was amazed that Wilson's gunshots did not seem to affect Brown. She told Michael that Wilson seemed to be shooting Brown with a mere taser.
Now Michael Brady came out onto the balcony and saw Brown bending over and Wilson shooting. Michael responded to his fiancee, telling her that Wilson was shooting real bullets with a real gun.
Frightened by the unexpected shooting, Fiancée Brady turned her attention to her three boys and pushed them back into the apartment. She did not see any more of the shooting.
Michael Brady remained on the balcony and saw Wilson fire the last four or five bullets. He saw Brown fall dead.
A few seconds later, Michael Brady saw the Monte Carlo drive away. Although he had not seen Johnson jump into the car, he saw sitting Johnson sitting in the passenger seat.
Later, after the incident, Michael and the fiancée discussed the event. Soon their narratives melded with a couple of mutual false memories.
* Now both remembered that Wilson was shooting at Brown's back while chasing them down the street. She adopted that part of his his narrative.
* Now both remembered seeing Johnson jump into the Monte Carlo. He adopted that part of her narrative.
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Five hours after the incident, Fiancée Brady's gave a detective a tape-recorded statement that included the following passage.
I was in my kitchen eating, on the phone with my little sister, and my fiancé yelled from the bedroom, "Baby, look out the window, they're shooting."
I run to my patio and look out the window. As I'm looking out my window, I see an African-American gentleman running away from a Caucasian officer, and the Caucasian office was chasing, walking behind him, steady opening fire, shooting as he was shooting whenever.
I asked my fiancé, I said" Well, I guess the guy got away, because I don't see him walking anymore."
So, the next thing I know, I see the African-American guy walking back down, facing the Caucasian officer. As I see him walking, I opens up my front door and go out on my patio.
I see the Caucasian officer steady opening fire, aiming at the African-American guy's chest area. While standing there looking, I assumed, I figured that they had tased him and he just was resisting. He wasn't going down.
When I talked to my fiancé, he said that it was actually gunshots.
Maybe he shot him two more times, and that's when the guy tipped over. The officer walked up, shot him three more times, and the dude just tipped over head-first, and his head smashed into the pavement..
