Fox NewsTwo police officers were shot and seriously wounded early Thursday outside the police department in Ferguson, Mo. amid protests that followed the resignation of the town’s police chief.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told a news conference that a 41-year-old officer from St. Louis County was shot in the shoulder at around midnight local time, while a 32-year-old officer from suburban Webster Groves was shot in the face. Both victims were taken to a local hospital. Belmar said both men were conscious, but had no further word about their condition except to describe the injuries as “very serious.”
Belmar said that at least three shots were fired and were believed to come from a house across the street from the police department.
“I don’t know who did the shooting, to be honest with you,” Belmar said, adding that he could not provide a description of the suspect or gun.
He said his “assumption” was that, based on where the officers were standing and the trajectory of the bullets, “these shots were directed exactly at my officers.”
The shooting was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Marciay Pitchford, 20, was among the protesters outside the police department. He told The Associated Press the protest had been mostly peaceful until he heard the shots ring out.
“I saw the officer go down and the other police officers drew their guns while other officers dragged the injured officer away,” Pitchford said. “All of a sudden everybody started running or dropping to the ground,” he said.
Belmar said that some officers had begun to leave the area due to the lack of activity prior to the shooting.
“I’ve said many times we cannot sustain this [unrest] without problems and that’s not a reflection of those expressing their First Amendment rights,” Belmar told the Post-Dispatch. “But this is a very dangerous environment for our officers to work in.”
KTVI reported that as many as 200 people had gathered to demand more changes in the city’s government after the resignation of Police Chief Tom Jackson Wednesday afternoon. The station reported that at least one person had been arrested and that protesters blocked traffic on nearby Florissant Road.
Jackson was the sixth Ferguson employee to resign or be fired after a Justice Department report cleared white former officer Darren Wilson of civil rights charges in the shooting of black 18-year-old Michael Brown this past August, but found a profit-driven court system and widespread racial bias in the city police department.
Mayor James Knowles III announced Wednesday that the city had reached a mutual separation agreement with Jackson that will pay Jackson one year of his nearly $96,000 annual salary and health coverage. Jackson’s resignation becomes effective March 19, at which point Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff will become acting chief while the city searches for a replacement.
Jackson oversaw the Ferguson force for nearly five years before the shooting that stirred months of unrest across the St. Louis region and drew global attention to the predominantly black city of 21,000.
Jackson had previously resisted calls by protesters and some of Missouri’s top elected leaders to step down over his handling of Brown’s shooting and the weeks of sometimes-violent protests that followed. He was widely criticized from the outset, both for an aggressive police response to protesters and for his agency’s erratic and infrequent releases of key information.
In addition to Jackson, Ferguson’s court. clerk was fired last week and two police officers resigned. The judge who oversaw the court system also resigned, and the City Council on Tuesday agreed to a separation agreement with the city manager.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Small pebbles? Avalache to follow?
Wait for it….. Martial Law coming to a city near you.
Still trying. Pathetic. I bet nobody got shot. If 2 welfare collecting policy enforcement officers got shot then they would try and lock down the whole state.
I question the “convenience” of this shooting that brings sympathy to the police. If there was actually a shooting, I question who did it. Probably not legit protesters.
Better lock the whole state down! Holy balls! Lead flying! I’m surprised it took this long!
I’m guessing it’s a MOSSAD operation, and the motive would be to generate more support for Federalized cops, by showing that local cops are generating “blow-back” violence that Federal cops wouldn’t incite.
That thought crossed my mind, and that is ALWAYS a possibility.
NOTICE:
“Belmar said that at least three shots were fired and were believed to come from a house across the street from the police department.
“I don’t know who did the shooting, to be honest with you,” Belmar said, adding that he could not provide a description of the suspect or gun.””
That’s always a red false flag, when they didn’t catch the shooters. It gives them time to invent a story or get patsies.
And the shots came from the house across the street from the police precinct? Are you kidding me? GIMME A BREAK! So with all the news focused on Ferguson and all the huge police prescence there, RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET IS WHERE THE SHOTS CAME FROM? AND THEY DIDN’T GET THEM? R U KIDDING ME?
Seriously? They are expecting us to believe the shooter was across from the police station? Really?
And they didn’t get the guy…ACROSS THE STREET! REALLY?
There had to be video of this. Where is it?
Im also having a hard time believing their “story”
makes you wonder if the “official” narrative is even the truth
so easy to falsify news anymore these days,, they been so dam good at it for so long.. maybe no cop or anyone really got shot.. its all just for a reaction
Now if you said your in the hospital sitting next to the guy I might be inclined to believe you.. but these news hounds.,, no F-ing way
So, is this where Eric Holder will be next, Federalizing cops? This has a bad smell to it.
Another well-timed ‘crisis just in time to take the pressure off of Billery and to to further the advancement of nationalized police AND to further the hopes of something not called Martial Law? One does wonder.