When authorities revealed that Officer Darren Wilson shot unarmed teen Michael Brown, more than one man named Darren Wilson found himself in the middle of the controversy. INSIDE EDITION reports.
INSIDE EDITION is learning more about the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.
To some minds, 28-year-old Darren Wilson is a cold-blooded killer, but until he opened fire on Michael Brown, he was perceived quite differently.
Last February, Wilson received an award for "Extraordinary Effort in the Line of Duty.” His dad posted photos of the event on Facebook, with the words: "Very proud of my son, Darren Wilson, on his receiving a commendation from his police department. Congratulations, son."
Another message was posted a few days ago by his dad: "...our family is in need for prayers to be sent up for a family member."
New video taken immediately after the shooting showed Officer Darren Wilson and another officer standing over Brown's body.
A friend of his took to Facebook to defend him, writing: "He is the nicest guy in the world. He has the biggest heart. He really does. Nobody is ever going to know what really happened, but I can say with certainty that the officer's intentions were pure."
That's probably not the prevailing opinion. A press conference by famed pathologist Dr. Michael Baden about the gunshot wounds that killed Michael Brown was disrupted by a passionate outburst when someone screamed, “Why hasn't Mr., the officer Wilson, been arrested?"
And in a bizarre twist, another cop by the same name is being mistaken for the officer who shot Michael Brown!
To compound the irony, this Darren Wilson is black and he's a cop in St. Louis.
INSIDE EDITION's April Woodard asked Wilson, "What was your reaction when you found out that your name matched the police officer in the Michael Brown incident."
He said, "I was shocked. I just had an abundance of calls from media outlets from around the world wanting to contact me and see, 'Hey, what is going on?' It is an unfortunate event, as such, with what we are experiencing now in Ferguson, had to get the attention of the world."
