Ferguson police shot during protest

Two police officers in Ferguson, a Missouri town hit by riots over the killing of an unarmed black teenager last year, have been hit by gunfire.

The St Louis County police says the condition of the officers is not known and it is gathering information.

They were shot early on Thursday during protests that followed the resignation of Ferguson's police chief.

He stood down after a federal report alleged widespread racial bias in the town's police department.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Two officers shot during a protest on Thursday, March 12, 2015
By Susan Weich

FERGUSON • Two police officers were hit by gunfire early Thursday outside the Ferguson police department.

The shots were fired just after midnight as police were confronting protesters who had gathered outside the police station.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said one officer was with his department and the other was with the Webster Groves department. Both were being treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where Belmar spoke.

The chief said at least three shots were fired. He described the injuries of both men as "very serious wounds."

The Webster Groves officer was shot in the face. He is 32 and had been on the force five years.

The county officer was hit in the shoulder. That officer is 41 and has been on the force for 14 years.

Belmar said no suspects have been identified in the shootings.

He said he believes the officers were targeted. They had been standing in a group when the shots were fired.

The chief said that 60-70 protesters had come to the Ferguson Police Department earlier in the night, some of them blocking roads and sidewalks. The protests prompted police departments to send officers, some in riot gear.

"I've said many times we cannot sustain this without problems and that's not a reflection of those expressing their first amendment rights," Belmar said. "But this is a very dangerous environment for our officers to work in."

After the shots were fired, the scene turned chaotic. Some protesters dropped to the ground. Others fled the scene.

Several members of the media, including a Post-Dispatch reporter and photographer, were near the officers who were hit.

Media and police ran behind two brick walls and officers pulled out their weapons. Then a line of police cars from more than a dozen departments arrived.

Police closed South Florissant Road in front of the police station and cordoned a section of the area off with crime scene tape.

Belmar said the shots were fired across Florissant Road. Witnesses said the shots appeared to come from the direction of a block of homes on Tiffin Avenue that intersects West Florissant Avenue, where the police department is located.

Bradley Rayford, a freelance journalist who has been reporting from Ferguson since the unrest began there last summer, said he saw three or four muzzle flashes from the crest of Tiffin Hill, a residential neighborhood with large century-old homes.

He was in front of the police line on South Florissant at the time. He said he couldn't tell if the shots were being fired from a vehicle.

At 2:30 a.m. a contingent of about 25 officers ascended the hill and began scouring the front yard of a home directly behind a tire business, their flashlights sweeping in arcs as they searched for evidence.

The gunfire rang out as the protests seemed to be dwindling.

About 25 protesters remained at the scene about two hours after the shooting. Police wouldn't let them leave until they gave statements.

The protesters seemed to be two camps. The first were there to make a point that they weren't satisfied with the resignations of City Manager John Shaw and Police Chief Thomas Jackson. They were chanting in unison.

The other one was volatile, angry, hurling profanities at the police, media and other protesters. Some skirmishes broke out among the factions.

At least two people were taken into custody, but those arrests occurred before the gunfire erupted.