Following the shooting death of their 18-year-old son, the parents of Michael Brown, along with their attorney Benjamin Crump, spoke to the public in an emotional press conference Monday evening.
The unarmed teenager was killed on Saturday when a Ferguson police officer shot him multiple times. Ferguson is a small suburb outside of St. Louis, Mo.
Lesley McSpadden, Brown’s mother, told the crowd that her son was her best friend.
“That was my first-born son,” Lesley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown, said. “I just wish I could’ve been there to help him.”
McSpadden asked for justice for her son, but urged residents to protest non-violently. Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., also asked for no further violence.
“We don’t want no violence,” Brown Sr. said. “Michael would have wanted no violence. ”
“Any problems that were going on, or any situation, there wasn’t nothing he couldn’t solve,” Brown Sr. said about his son. “He was a good boy; he didn’t deserve none of this. None of it. We need justice for our son.”
Crump, who also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, said he and attorney Anthony Gray would work hard to honor the life of the slain teen.
“Now today, which is so significant, is Michael and Leslie expected to drop their son off at technical college. And celebrate his future. He had graduated, he was doing the right things,” Crump said. “Instead of celebrating his future, they are having to plan his funeral.”
“Their baby was executed in broad daylight,” he said. “Executed before he was a man. We will not be silent. We will stand up.”
You can watch a portion of the press conference above.
On Monday night, McSpadden and Brown Sr. also stopped by CNN to call for justice. When asked by CNN’s Don Lemon how she was holding up, McSpadden replied, “the best that I can.”
“He was a leader. He knew what he wanted out of life,” his father said. “He was a good kid.”
You can watch Lemon’s interview with Brown’s parents below.
