2 Police Officers Shot During Protests in Ferguson, MO

[lawildcat]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/police-officer-shot-protests-ferguson-reports-article-1.2146530

 

Two police officers were shot early Thursday during a protest outside of the Ferguson Police Department's headquarters.

 

The officers, who were standing guard along with several other cops, were shot at from a distance. One was shot in the face, the other in the shoulder. Both remain hospitalized, and St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said their wounds were "very serious." The officers are expected to survive, local TV station KMOV reported.

 

There were no arrests, and police officials said a suspect had not been identified.

 

The protest began Wednesday night, after Chief Thomas Jackson resigned from the St. Louis suburb’s embattled police department, part of a wave of resignations following the Justice Department's investigation of the fatal police-involved shooting of Michael Brown last summer.

 

There were roughly 70 protesters gathered outside of the police headquarters, located on South Florissant Rd., and the demonstration in its initial stages was non-violent, though there were reportedly some arrests. The crowd enaged in a series of chants, including the rallying cry of "Black Lives Matter," and called for further changes to the police force.

 

Then came a burst of gunfire, creating pandemonium shortly after midnight.

 

Witnesses described hearing anywhere from two to six shots. A raw video posted to social media shows protesters screaming in horror after the shots. Cops and demonstrators ducked for cover or fled the area. In the frantic moments that followed the shots, someone off camera was heard yelling: "Acknowledgement nine months ago would've kept that from happening!"

 

The person filming the video says on camera that the shots came from a hill behind the crowd. Chief Belmar said the shooter targeted the officers and likely fired from across the street.

 

Bradley Rayford, a freelance journalist who was standing near the police line when the shots were fired, said he saw three to four muzzle flashes from Tiffin Ave., which is across from South Florissant Rd. and part of a residential neighborhood called Tiffin Hill. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he could not tell whether the gunman fired from inside a vehicle.

 

The paper reported that at about 2:30 a.m. roughly 25 cops searched the yard of a home on the hill, near a tire yard.

 

The names of the wounded officers were not released. Belmar said the one who was shot in the shoulder is a 41-year-old from the St. Louis County Police Department with 14 years on the force. The officer shot in the face is 32 and a five-year member of the police force in Webster Groves, another St. Louis suburb.

 

The officers were taken to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, spokesperson Jennifer Arvin told the Daily News. She said the hospital could not comment on their condition.

 

Jackson's resignation from the Ferguson PD made him the sixth city official to step down since the Justice Department's report last week took the city to task for running a racially biased law enforcement system in which cops ticketed blacks in a pattern of discriminatory traffic stops designed to fill the city's coffers.

 

Before the shooting, some protesters celebrated Jackson’s resignation and called for Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III to be the next to step down. The Justice Department declined to file civil rights charges against former Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, while responding to a theft at a convenience store in August 2014. The shooting triggered protests throughout Ferguson and nationwide. In November, when a grand jury declined to file state criminal charges against Wilson, who is white, the protests grew in volume across the country and intensified into riots in Ferguson.

 

Jackson was criticized for his department's heavy-handed response to the protests, but Thursday's shooting marked the first time that an officer was shot during a crowd-control effort. Belmar said the simmering unrest in the community continues to pose a threat to officers and the public.

 

"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."

[doomer]

It's a sad state of affairs.

[All Tell]

Poor Al Sharpton. The shooting of these officers is frustrating to him.

 

LINK

[ggclfan]

Poor Al Sharpton. The shooting of these officers is frustrating to him.

 

LINK

 

Just watched the link. Got my blood boiling this morning. Sharpton is just a horrible human being. Two cops were just shot and he did not say one thing on that clip about how sorry he was to hear that but instead talks about himself and how he was the one who got change in Ferguson...just despicable. I am sure at some point he will get around to saying something about how he feels bad for the police who were shot but his initial response was all about "Al".

[oldonetechnique]

Blood is on the hands of the Media and the leaders who encourage this hate and dismay.

[Clyde]

Ferguson is now hoping for a blizzard to come back through town. This warm weather is not good.

[PurplePride92]

It's a sad state of affairs.

Yes it is. A horrible situation seems to be getting worse. I hope the officers and Ferguson can find a way to recover from all of this. Just sad.

[TheDeuce]

What can you say anymore? It's just a crazy, crazy world. Very sad.

 

Those of you that still get caught up on Sharpton just need to let it go... And please don't take that as me defending him because I'm not in anyway. I think he's a clown and terrible for race relations.

[plantmanky]

Eliminate the threat.

[All Tell]

What can you say anymore? It's just a crazy, crazy world. Very sad.

 

Those of you that still get caught up on Sharpton just need to let it go... And please don't take that as me defending him because I'm not in anyway. I think he's a clown and terrible for race relations.

 

As long as there are outlets that give him a pulpit to preach his idiocy from he's an issue. A national network (even MSNBC with their 10's of viewers) give his idiocy some semblance of credibility. When he's on arguably the most balanced show on that DNC propaganda vehicle making idiotic statements like this it gives him even more credibility.

[HammerTime]

What can you say anymore? It's just a crazy, crazy world. Very sad.

 

Those of you that still get caught up on Sharpton just need to let it go... And please don't take that as me defending him because I'm not in anyway. I think he's a clown and terrible for race relations.

:thumb:

 

 

Quit posting his links, quit watching him on TV, quit talking about him and he will go away.

 

 

I couldn't imagine living in this community right now. I'm not sure how they can fix this.

[theguru]

Sharpton is a despicable human being and I hope that is the last thing I ever post about him.

 

And I would bring in the National Guard and lock that city down until next winter.

[jericho]

The shooting of 2 white officers is the best news Sharpton has had in a long time. No doubt he is happy. Its a shame he even has a title of Reverend.

 

I doubt any protesters have any sympathy either.

 

No way if Im a white cop do I arrest a black person and turn a blind eye to black crime. Right now if a white cop does anything he is a racist. I just hope the citizens of this place understand that the crime rate is going to rise now, becasue I bet white cops turn their head to black crime, especially if its black on black crime.

[Getslow]

And I would bring in the National Guard and lock that city down until next winter.

 

Really? I'm doing the exact opposite to whatever extent possible allowed to me as a government official: I'm pulling everyone out. Minimum safe distance.

[HammerTime]

The shooting of 2 white officers is the best news Sharpton has had in a long time. No doubt he is happy. Its a shame he even has a title of Reverend.

 

I doubt any protesters have any sympathy either.

 

No way if Im a white cop do I arrest a black person and turn a blind eye to black crime. Right now if a white cop does anything he is a racist. I just hope the citizens of this place understand that the crime rate is going to rise now, becasue I bet white cops turn their head to black crime, especially if its black on black crime.

 

I didn't see anywhere in the article stating the officers were white or black.