--- title: President Barack Obama Calls Michael Brown Death 'Heartbreaking' description: "I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding" canonical: https://time.com/3105013/obama-death-of-michael-brown-heartbreaking/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-12T20:48:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:38:00.540Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Barack Obama Calls Michael Brown Death 'Heartbreaking' og:description: "I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding" og:url: https://time.com/3105013/obama-death-of-michael-brown-heartbreaking/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b5dd148242408c/69869f4dadae44130b5447eb/obama-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3297 og:image:height: 1855 og:image:alt: Barack ObPresident Barack Obama speaks on Aug. 11, 2014, in Chilmark, Mass., during his family vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard. ama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Barack Obama Calls Michael Brown Death 'Heartbreaking' twitter:description: "I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b5dd148242408c/69869f4dadae44130b5447eb/obama-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Calls Michael Brown Death 'Heartbreaking' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 12, 2014 8:48 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks on Aug. 11, 2014, in Chilmark, Mass., during his family vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard. President Barack Obama speaks on Aug. 11, 2014, in Chilmark, Mass., during his family vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard.Jacquelyn Martin—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 12, 2014 8:48 PM UTC President Barack Obama called the death of Ferguson, Mo. teen Michael Brown ‘heartbreaking’ Tuesday, in his first public comments on the police shooting of the unarmed 18-year-old. In a statement released by the White House, Obama appealed for calm, noting the Department of Justice is investigating the shooting. Brown’s death has set off incidents of rioting and violent confrontations with police, who have responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. He said: --- > “” --- Brown was shot during an altercation with police on Saturday afternoon. The circumstances of the shooting are hotly contested by witnesses and police. Police said Tuesday they would not release the name of the police officer who shot Brown “[for safety purposes.](http://time.com/3103785/michael-brown-ferguson-st-louis-police-officer-name/)“ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3105013/obama-death-of-michael-brown-heartbreaking/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3105013/obama-death-of-michael-brown-heartbreaking/"},"headline":"Obama Calls Michael Brown Death 'Heartbreaking'","datePublished":"2014-08-12T20:48:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:38:00.540Z","description":"\"I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding\"","url":"https://time.com/3105013/obama-death-of-michael-brown-heartbreaking/","keywords":["White House","Crime","Race"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b5dd148242408c/69869f4dadae44130b5447eb/obama-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b5dd148242408c/69869f4dadae44130b5447eb/obama-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack ObPresident Barack Obama speaks on Aug. 11, 2014, in Chilmark, Mass., during his family vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard. ama","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks on Aug. 11, 2014, in Chilmark, Mass., during his family vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard.","creditText":"Jacquelyn Martin—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3105013/obama-death-of-michael-brown-heartbreaking/","name":"Obama Calls Michael Brown Death 'Heartbreaking'"}}]}] ```