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Ferguson: Two police officers shot amid protests at department HQ Ferguson: Two police officers shot amid protests outside department HQ in St Louis suburb
(35 minutes later)
Two police officers were shot in Ferguson, Missouri in the early hours of this morning, during a protest outside the police station in the troubled St Louis suburb. Two police officers have been shot in Ferguson, Missouri, during a protest outside the police station in the troubled St Louis suburb.
The St Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the two officers were not from the Ferguson police, but from other nearby forces. Both were being treated at an area hospital last night and are expected to survive. At least three shots rang out from the hill opposite the station, witnesses said, in the early hours of Thursday morning as numbers at the protest started to dwindle.
Witnesses said they heard between two and four shots ring out, just as the protest was beginning to wind down in the small hours. Peaceful demonstrations have become routine at the police station on South Florissant Road, ever since the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in August last year. One of the officers was hit in the face, the other in the shoulder, in what St Louis Police Chief Jon Belmar described as "very serious gunshot wounds".
Neither officer was from the Ferguson police unit itself, Belmar said. He identified them as a 32-year-old officer from Webster Groves and a 41-year-old from St Louis County, and said both were conscious in hospital.
Journalist Bradley Rayford Witnesses described "three or four muzzle flashes" coming the crest of Tiffin Avenue Hill opposite the station - not from the group of peaceful protesters themselves.
Rifles drawn. Ferguson PD. pic.twitter.com/bX5YW78ZJ4
PHOTO: Officers take cover outside #Ferguson PD after two officers were shot. (credit: @bobhoehn_stl) pic.twitter.com/VawAaC5MiV
Two officers shot in Ferguson. First ambulance leaving from scene. pic.twitter.com/ihWLYzuwQX
Second officer being loaded into ambulance. pic.twitter.com/BVwvla7azO
Free-lance journalist @BradleyRayford said he saw 3-4 muzzle flashes from crest of Tiffin Avenue hill in #Ferguson. pic.twitter.com/Bxwx04IunH
Police ask few remaining protesters in #Ferguson to back away from yellow tape. "This is a crime scene," cop said pic.twitter.com/64zB5LGa3s
"Two cops were shot in Ferguson tonight," he wrote on Twitter. "I was standing close to them when they were shot. The bullets went right past [my] head."
As of 2.30am local time (7.30am GMT), a small number of protesters remained at the scene, held back by police tape and officers declaring "this is a crime scene".
Peaceful demonstrations have become routine at the police station on South Florissant Road, ever since the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in August last year.
Police react moments after the shots were fired The latest incident came at the end of a day when Ferguson police Chief Tom Jackson announced he would resign his post effective 19 March, in the wake of a damning report from the US Department of Justice, which found evidence of systematic bias against Ferguson’s black population in the city’s police department and courts.Police react moments after the shots were fired The latest incident came at the end of a day when Ferguson police Chief Tom Jackson announced he would resign his post effective 19 March, in the wake of a damning report from the US Department of Justice, which found evidence of systematic bias against Ferguson’s black population in the city’s police department and courts.
Jackson was the sixth employee to resign or be fired after a Justice Department report cleared white former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson of civil rights charges in the shooting of 18-year-old Brown in Ferguson last summer. A separate Justice Department report found a profit-driven court system and widespread racial bias in the city police department.Jackson was the sixth employee to resign or be fired after a Justice Department report cleared white former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson of civil rights charges in the shooting of 18-year-old Brown in Ferguson last summer. A separate Justice Department report found a profit-driven court system and widespread racial bias in the city police department.
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 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.
Representatives from the St Louis County Police Department and Ferguson Police Department could not immediately be reached on Thursday. The Highway Patrol said troopers were headed to the scene but they could not provide any details.
TV station KSDK reported the officers were taken to a local hospital.
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.
Recent protests came to a head outside Ferguson Police Department last night
Jackson took nearly a week to publicly identify Wilson as the shooter and then further heightened tension in the community by releasing Wilson's name at the same time as store security video that police said showed Brown stealing a box of cigars and shoving a clerk only a short time before his death.Jackson took nearly a week to publicly identify Wilson as the shooter and then further heightened tension in the community by releasing Wilson's name at the same time as store security video that police said showed Brown stealing a box of cigars and shoving a clerk only a short time before his death.
During a 12-minute news conference, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said Jackson resigned after "a lot of soul-searching" about how the community could heal from the racial unrest stemming from the fatal shooting last summer.During a 12-minute news conference, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said Jackson resigned after "a lot of soul-searching" about how the community could heal from the racial unrest stemming from the fatal shooting last summer.
"The chief is the kind of honourable man you don't have to go to," Knowles said. "He comes to you when he knows that this is something we have to seriously discuss.""The chief is the kind of honourable man you don't have to go to," Knowles said. "He comes to you when he knows that this is something we have to seriously discuss."
The acting head of the Justice Department's civil rights division released a statement saying the US government remains committed to reaching a "court-enforceable agreement" to address Ferguson's "unconstitutional practices," regardless of who's in charge of the city.The acting head of the Justice Department's civil rights division released a statement saying the US government remains committed to reaching a "court-enforceable agreement" to address Ferguson's "unconstitutional practices," regardless of who's in charge of the city.
A US law enforcement official said on Wednesday the Justice Department had not pressured or encouraged Jackson to resign during meetings with him but had also not resisted the idea. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing meetings between the Justice Department and the police department.A US law enforcement official said on Wednesday the Justice Department had not pressured or encouraged Jackson to resign during meetings with him but had also not resisted the idea. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing meetings between the Justice Department and the police department.
Besides 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.Besides 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.
Additional reporting by APAdditional reporting by AP