Thread: FERGUSON: TWO OFFICERS SHOT OUTSIDE POLICE HEADQUARTERS

FERGUSON: TWO OFFICERS SHOT OUTSIDE POLICE HEADQUARTERS




AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

by BREITBART NEWS11 Mar 201522

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Two officers were shot in front of the Ferguson Police Department early Thursday, a spokesman for the county police department said, as protesters gathered following the resignation of the city’s embattled police chief.

The officers were shot shortly after midnight Thursday, according to St. Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman. Their conditions were unknown and no further details were immediately available, he said.

The shots were fired as what had earlier been a crowd of about 150 people had begun to dwindle, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Some protesters fell to the ground and others ran. A huge police presence, including officers in riot gear, later surrounded the department.

Ferguson Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff told the newspaper that he didn’t think either officer was from his department. Eickhoff said he didn’t know the extent of the officers’ injuries.

Representatives of the Ferguson Police Department could not immediately be reached. The Highway Patrol said early Thursday that troopers were headed to the scene but they could not provide any details.

TV station KSDK reported the officers were taken to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Mayor James Knowles III announced Wednesday that the city had reached a mutual separation agreement with Police Chief Thomas 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 Eickhoff will become acting chief while the city searches for a replacement.

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 black 18-year-old Michael 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 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.

He 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, Knowles 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 honorable 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 U.S. 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 U.S. law enforcement official said 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.

The resignation was welcomed by state lawmakers who represent Ferguson.

“There would be a lot of people that would approve of that,” said Democratic state Rep. Sharon Pace, who represents the neighborhood where Brown was shot.

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.

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.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...-headquarters/

Ferguson Shooting: Police Officers Released From the Hospital

Mar 12, 2015, 11:22 AM ET
By DAN GOOD and MEGHAN KENEALLY DAN GOOD More From Dan »
Digital Editor/Reporter
via GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Video Captures Moment Shots Rang Out in Ferguson
NEXT VIDEOOfficers In Serious Condition After Police Shooting In Ferguson

AUTO START: ON | OFF

Two Missouri police officers shot overnight in Ferguson were released from the hospital this morning after sustaining non-threatening injuries following a night of renewed protests, the St. Louis County Police said in a Facebook post.

"Both were in serious condition before being released from Barnes Jewish Hospital," the post read.

The cops, who have not been identified, were "lucky" they weren't killed, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar had said earlier today.

Ferguson Manager Is 5th out After DOJ Report Alleging Bias
Missouri Appeals Judge Appointed to Take Over Ferguson Court
Obama Says 'We May Never Know What Happened' in Ferguson, But Defends DOJ

At a news conference held before the Facebook posting, Belmar said they heard "hear three or four shots ring out" before the officers were hurt, both of whom were seriously wounded from a shooter standing about 150 feet away.

"We are lucky by God's grace that we didn't lose two police officers," he said.

One officer, 41, was struck in the shoulder; the other, 32, in the face, Belmar said.

"With both officers, we don't have any remarkable long-term injuries," he added.

Laurie Skrivan/St Louis Post Dispatch/Polaris

PHOTO: Paramedics load one of two police officer who were shot while standing guard in front of the Ferguson Police Station during a protest, March 12, 2015.

Belmar said the shots were fired from an undetermined location north or northwest of the Ferguson Police Department building.

“Ladies and gentleman, we were very close to having what happened to the NYPD. We could have buried two police officers," Belmar said.

The shooter has not been arrested. The search for the suspect or suspects is the "number one priority" within the St. Louis County police department, according to Belmar.

In a statement this morning, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said, "This heinous assault on two brave law enforcement officers was inexcusable and repugnant. I condemn violence against any public safety officials in the strongest terms, and the Department of Justice will never accept any threats or violence directed at those who serve and protect our communities. ... Such senseless acts of violence threaten the very reforms that nonviolent protesters in Ferguson and around the country have been working towards for the past several months."

Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP Photo

PHOTO: Police mobilize in the parking lot of the Ferguson Police Station after two police officers were shot while standing guard near the Ferguson Police Station, March 12, 2015.

Holder also said he wished the officers "a full and speedy recovery."

"We stand ready to offer any possible aid to an investigation into this incident, including the department's full range of investigative resources. And we will continue to stand unequivocally against all acts of violence against cops whenever and wherever they occur," he added.

Tensions simmered in the city on Wednesday night after the resignation of the city’s police chief, Tom Jackson. Hundreds of protesters gathered throughout the night, staring down police officers in riot gear.

A handful of people were arrested. Some people chanted, and other flare-ups were reported, unrest rekindled after a Justice Department report documented widespread racial bias in the city.

Jackson’s resignation makes him the sixth person who has been fired or forced to resign since the report was released March 4 detailing what it described as rampant racial bias in policing in the St. Louis suburb.

Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP Photo

PHOTO: Police mobilize in the parking lot of the Ferguson Police Station after two police officers were shot while standing guard in front of the Ferguson Police Station, March 12, 2015.

Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff will take over as the acting chief of police starting today as the city launches a national search for a new chief of police, the letter stated.

Jackson had initially come under fire in August for his department's handling of the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/ferguson-sh...ry?id=29573803

3/15/2015

BREAKING NEWS

OFFICIALS ANNOUNCE ARREST OF 20-YEAR-OLD MAN IN SHOOTING OF POLICE OFFICERS IN FERGUSON

Story to follow

Man arrested in connection to shooting of two officers in Ferguson, police say

By Eliott C. McLaughlin, Ed Payne and Michael Martinez, CNN
Updated 2:32 PM ET, Sun March 15, 2015

Story highlights

• Man at county jail on 24-hour hold for assault against officer, jail spokesman says
• Officers shot after protests in Ferguson; neither officer from Ferguson Police Department

(CNN)Police have made an arrest in connection with the shooting last week of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, the St. Louis County Police Department said in a tweet Sunday.

Details of the arrest were sparse, but a jail spokesman confirmed Sunday a man was there on a 24-hour hold for assault against a police officer and firing at or from a vehicle.

On Friday, police said they were still chasing leads in the case and insisted the trail had not gone cold.

The shooting of two officers occurred during a Wednesday night protest in Ferguson, but authorities don't know if the suspect or suspects had any connection to the demonstrations, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at the time.

"We could have buried two police officers," Belmar told reporters last week. "I feel very confident that whoever did this ... came there for whatever nefarious reason that it was."

Public donations poured in to be used toward a reward to find the gunman and any accomplices, Belmar said.

Authorities offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of person or persons responsible for the gunfire upon the two officers, according to the St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers website.



Ferguson shooter still at large 01:32

PLAY VIDEO

It was unclear if anyone would collect the reward after Sunday's announcement of an arrest.

The shots rang out from a hill overlooking the city's police station shortly after midnight Wednesday, at the end of a protest against the Ferguson Police Department.

Officers saw "muzzle flashes ... about 125 yards away," Belmar said.

Protesters said they had nothing to do with the shooting, saying the demonstrators believe in nonviolence.

"As the protest was dying down, someone, somewhere got violent.

Now who they were and what group they were affiliated with, we don't know," said Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman. "In no way are they representative of the thousands of people ... who have been protesting."

Belmar believes someone targeted the police, who have faced heated criticism for months, he said.

"These police officers were standing there, and they were shot just because they were police officers," he said.

The department has been under fire since one of its officers, Darren Wilson, shot and killed African-American teen Michael Brown in August, and more recently since a scathing U.S. Department of Justice report documented a pattern of racial discrimination. Police Chief Thomas Jackson resigned Wednesday.

While the demonstrators' focus was Ferguson, neither of the wounded officers works for that police department.

One is from Webster Groves, a St. Louis suburb 13 miles south of Ferguson. The officer -- a 32-year-old with seven years' experience -- was shot at the high point of his cheek, just under his right eye, Belmar said.

The other was hit in the shoulder and the bullet came out the middle of his back, Belmar said. He is a 41-year-old officer with the St. Louis County Police Department, who has been in law enforcement for 14 years.

Both men were treated and released.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/15/us/fer...est/index.html

15 March 2015 Last updated at15:52 ET

Jeffrey Williams arrested over Ferguson police shooting

The police officers were wounded during a protest on Thursday night

Ferguson unrest

• How do you fix Ferguson?
• What happened, and what now?
• Key findings of damning report
• Black and white views of FergusonWatch

A man has been arrested in connection with the shooting of two policemen in the troubled city of Ferguson.

Jeffrey Williams, 20, has been charged with two counts of assault and gun violations.

The police officers were wounded when shots were fired at them during a protest on Thursday night.

Ferguson has been a flashpoint for race relations following the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in August 2014.

Giving details of the arrest, County Prosecutor Robert McCulloh said Mr Williams had admitted to his "participation in firing the shots", but added, "it was not certain if he had been targeting police."

The prosecutor said that Mr Williams claimed he fired the shots from a car in a dispute with other unidentified individuals.

Mr McCulloh added that a weapon had been recovered and that Mr Williams is believed to have been the only shooter.

Mr Williams, an African-American, had taken part in the peaceful demonstration earlier in the evening outside police headquarters.

The protest followed the resignation of Ferguson's police chief after a damning US Department of Justice report found racial bias in his department.

Jump media player
Media player help

Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.


Eyewitness at the police shooting, Keith Rose: "I saw one officer covered in blood - I saw officers running to the aid of that officer"

The policemen were wounded in the cheek and shoulder, and have since been released from hospital.

President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder condemned the attack.

Extremely critical report
Police chief Thomas Jackson was the sixth Ferguson official to be fired or step down. He had initially resisted calls from protesters and some state leaders to resign.

Mr Jackson was widely criticised after the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August and the weeks of demonstrations that followed.

The Justice Department report found substantial evidence of intentional discrimination in the police and justice system.

The report contended that African-Americans were at the receiving end of 90% of officers' use of force.

In November, a St Louis County grand jury found that white police officer Darren Wilson did not break any laws when he shot Brown.

Police across the country have faced criticism following the deaths of a series of black men in contentious circumstances.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31897876


Ferguson - key moments

• 9 August, 2014: White police officer Darren Wilson shoots dead unarmed black teenager Michael Brown
• 15 August: Authorities identify Mr Wilson, following days of protests and clashes with police
• 10-13 October: Activists from across US hold four days of rallies and vigils in Ferguson
• 24 November: Grand jury decides not to charge Mr Wilson, triggering further demonstrations
• 4 March: Department of Justice issues report alleging widespread racial bias in Ferguson police department
• 11 March: Police chief Thomas Jackson announces his resignation
• 12 March: Two police officers are wounded after being at a demonstration

How Ferguson unrest spread
Report on Ferguson police report - key findings

Jeffrey Williams