The prosecutor who led the probe of the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, was defeated by his challenger on Aug. 7.
Bob McCulloch, who investigated the fatal shooting of Brown by a police officer, had served as prosecuting attorney in St. Louis County for 27 years, reported Fox 2.
He was ousted by Wesley Bell, 43, a Ferguson councilman who focused on criminal justice reform, including devoting more resources for addiction and mental health treatment and ending mass incarceration.
“People keep saying ‘You shocked the world,’” Bell told the crowd at his watch party, reported KMOV. “No, we shocked the world. People showed up and showed out.”
“People keep saying ‘you shocked the world,’ no WE shocked the world. People showed up and showed out.” @Bell4STL tells a huge crowd. He is beating 30 year incumbent with more than 15,000 votes. #stlouis #election @kmov @nytimes pic.twitter.com/rqu55kYWfv
— Alexis Zotos (@alexiszotos) August 8, 2018
While the results were in the primary, no Republicans filed for election, making Bell the default winner. He won 57 percent of the vote.
McCulloch announced after the investigation in 2014 that a grand jury declined to indict the police officer who fired the shots in the Brown shooting.
McCulloch was widely popular before the investigation into officer Darren Wilson, reported St. Louis Public Radio, with a number of high-level Democratic officials, including U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and State Attorney General Chris Koster actively seeking his political endorsement.
But he faced criticism after the announcement, with some believing he influenced the grand jury.
Wilson said that Brown, 18, was moving aggressively toward him and that he fired in self-defense, a position corroborated by a number of witnesses.
In addition to the grand jury’s decision, the U.S. Department of Justice agreed that Wilson shot Brown in self-defense.
