Hands up, don't shoot

Hands up, don't shoot
	UNSUPPORTED
	"Michael Brown, an unarmed Black 18-year-old, had his hands raised in surrender and said "don't shoot" when he was shot dead by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014."
Domain	Politics & Elections
Tactic	False Context; Propaganda Technique;
Era	Current
First seen	2014
Origin	Accounts by some witnesses, especially Brown's companion Dorian Johnson, in the days after the August 9, 2014, shooting, adopted as a protest slogan nationwide
Last reviewed	2026-10-27
	Further reading: books on Politics & Elections

The claim that Michael Brown had his hands up and said "Hands up, don't shoot" became one of the most powerful slogans of protests against police violence after Brown was killed by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014. Protesters, athletes and members of Congress raised their hands in solidarity. A US Justice Department investigation under Attorney General Eric Holder concluded in March 2015 that the physical and forensic evidence, and the witnesses it found credible, did not support the account that Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot, and found insufficient evidence to charge Wilson. The same department issued a separate report finding that the Ferguson Police Department had engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional and racially discriminatory practices. The account of Brown's final moments remains contested by some, but the specific claim is unsupported by the evidence investigators examined.

The claim

Dorian Johnson, who was walking with Brown, told reporters that Wilson had shot Brown as he stood with his hands raised, after Brown said he was unarmed and asked the officer to stop shooting. Other witnesses gave similar accounts in media interviews. The gesture and phrase spread through protests in Ferguson, which saw weeks of demonstrations and clashes with heavily armed police, and then across the country.

What the evidence shows

Grand jury. In November 2014 a St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson. The prosecutor released evidence and testimony, which showed conflicting witness accounts.
Justice Department investigation. The department's March 2015 report found that forensic evidence, including DNA on Wilson's gun and in his vehicle, supported Wilson's account that Brown had reached into the police car and struggled for his gun. It found that Brown then ran, turned and moved toward Wilson. It found that witnesses who said Brown's hands were up in surrender either gave accounts inconsistent with physical evidence, changed their accounts, or admitted they had not seen the shooting. Witnesses the department found credible described Brown moving toward Wilson. It concluded that the evidence did not support federal civil rights charges.
Pattern of misconduct. A separate Justice Department report found that the Ferguson Police Department and municipal court routinely violated residents' constitutional rights, disproportionately targeted Black residents, and used fines and fees as a revenue source, contributing to deep distrust.
Later debate. In 2019 the Washington Post Fact Checker criticized presidential candidates who described Brown's death as murder, citing the Justice Department findings. Brown's family and some activists continued to dispute the official findings. In 2020 the St. Louis County prosecutor reviewed the case and declined to charge Wilson.

Why it persists

The slogan endured because it expressed broader grievances about police treatment of Black Americans, which the Justice Department's report on Ferguson substantiated. For many, it became a symbol rather than a specific factual claim. The case illustrates how early eyewitness accounts can be powerful but unreliable, and how a narrative can become detached from the facts of the incident that inspired it while addressing real problems.

Lessons for readers

Early eyewitness accounts can conflict and change; compare them with physical evidence.
A specific claim about an incident can be unsupported even when broader concerns it represents are valid.
Read official investigations, including those that cut against expectations.
Slogans can take on meanings beyond the facts of a single event.
Apply the same evidentiary standards regardless of political sympathies.

Sources

US Department of Justice, Department of Justice Report Regarding the Criminal Investigation into the Shooting Death of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri Police Officer Darren Wilson (March 4, 2015).
US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department (March 4, 2015).
Glenn Kessler, "Warren, Harris push the false narrative that Michael Brown was 'murdered'," The Washington Post, August 13, 2019.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney, statement on review of the Michael Brown case, July 30, 2020.