A video messaging company has confirmed that an audio recording that allegedly captured the sound of the gun shots fired by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson at Michael Brown match the known time of the shooting.
An unnamed man who claims to live in an apartment near where the Aug. 9 shooting took place turned the recording over to his attorney last week. CNN aired the audio on Monday.
In the 12-second recording, which CNN said at the time that it could not confirm, the man is heard leaving an adult-themed message on the Glide messaging service. Six gun shots are heard in the background followed by a three-second pause, which is then followed by four more shots.
In a post to its website on Thursday, Glide confirmed that the time stamp of the recording matches up with the known time and date when Wilson shot Brown.
“A Glide user living nearby (whose identity is being protected) was simply using the Glide app on their smartphone exactly as it was designed – to instantly communicate with a friend through our real-time video texting service. Simultaneously, they also captured audio in the background of the gunshots allegedly fired at Michael Brown,” the company wrote in a statement on its website.
“Because Glide is the only messaging application using streaming video technology, each message is simultaneously recorded and transmitted, so the exact time can be verified to the second. In this case, the video in question was created at 12:02:14 PM CDT on Saturday, August 9th.”
Chaim Haas, the director of communications for Glide, answered follow-up questions from The Daily Caller.
“As all messages are stored online for later viewing (and not on a phone), there is no way for the sender to edit / amend the video after it’s been sent,” Haas said via email.
CNN received heat for reporting the audio without confirmation — so much, that two CNN analysts said on air Wednesday that they personally believed the recording was a hoax.
The man’s attorney said that her client waited more than a week to turn over the recording because he did not realize its significance. She said that her client was interviewed by the FBI on Monday.
Regardless of the authenticity, most have maintained that the audio does not necessarily support either Wilson or the witnesses who say Wilson shot Brown without cause.
Making that determination will likely rely on a clearer picture of how far apart both men were during their encounter and in which direction they were facing.
What the recording does not seem to capture is an isolated shot that was, by most accounts, fired in Wilson’s police cruiser during a struggle between the officer and Brown.
Wilson has reportedly claimed that Brown punched him during the struggle and tried to grab his weapon. The six-year police veteran also reportedly claimed that at some point Brown turned to face him and then “bum-rushed” him. Wilson then fired the fatal shots.
Witnesses to the incident who have spoken to the media have said that after Wilson fired a series of shots at Brown, the 18-year-old turned around to face Wilson in order to surrender.
After an official autopsy was conducted, the Brown family commissioned another. The examiners determined that Brown was shot at least six times, all from the front.