Anonymous Threatens to Release Name of Ferguson Police Officer Who Shot Mike Brown

Members of the hacktivist collective Anonymous claim to know the identity of the police officer who shot Mike Brown in Ferguson last week.

Using the @OpFerguson account, the group responded to a question from another Twitter user asking why they couldn't get access to the police files which contained the name.

Anonymous said: "We have the name of the shooter. We just can't verify. We need to either talk to witnesses or get a second leak source."

IBTimes UK has contacted the group to try and ascertain how they managed to obtain the name of the officer involved and how they plan on verifying it. At the time of publication we have not heard back from the group.

Speaking to the Huffington Post, one member said it was being careful having previously identified someone incorrectly:

"There have been instances in the past where anons have released erroneous dox," the member called katanon said.

Dox - which is among a list of new words just added to the Oxford English Dictionary - refers to the search and publication "of private data about (an individual) on the internet, typically with malicious intent."

Emergency day of action

On Saturday, 18-year-old Mike Brown was shot dead by police officers in Ferguson, Missouri while out walking with a friend.

The police claim Brown struck the officer in question and tried to steal his gun. Brown's friend has told reporters that the officer told them to move onto the footpath before threatening Brown with the gun.

The police have said that they will not reveal the name of the officer in question after threats were made against that officer.

The hacktivist collective is now calling on all members to come together for an "emergency day of action" asking for members to send doxs to them, saying it is "time for Anonymous to evolve from an united force into a uniting force. Its time to wake up Anons, not to sleep. Its time to prove one more time that we are a force to be reckoned with."

Dispatch audio files leaked

Earlier on Wednesday, Anonymous released what appears to be the audio files from the St. Louis County Police dispatch from the time of the shooting.

However, while the St. Louis County Police is in charge of the investigation into the shooting, it would likely be the dispatch tapes from the Ferguson police department which would contain more pertinent audio.

On Wednesday, Ferguson's Police Chief Thomas Jackson said those 911 tapes were still being processed and apologised for the delay in releasing them.

Protests and arrests

The shootings have led to days of continuous riots in Ferguson leading to the arrest of two reporters and the firing of tear gas by riot police in the small town of just over 20,000 residents.

There has been widespread condemnation of the police's heavy-handed approach to dealing with what has been largely peaceful protests in the town.

Reporters from the Washington Post and the Huffington Post were arrested while working in a McDonald's restaurant, while Guardian journalist Jon Swaine says he was threatened with arrest when he sought to confirm the identities of his fellow reporters with police.