Two officers in Ferguson are shot outside police station amid waning protests
Two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, were shot and wounded early Thursday as they joined a line of officers keeping protesters away from the police station.
Both officers were in serious condition, report the New York Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. One officer, from the Webster Groves Police Department, was shot in the face. The other, from the St. Louis County Police Department, was shot in the shoulder.
The injuries were not life-threatening, though St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said they were “very serious gunshot injuries.”
The shots appeared to come from the crest of a residential neighborhood, freelance journalist Bradley Rayford told the Post-Dispatch.
The protests appeared to be waning when the shots were fired. Hours earlier, Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson announced he was resigning. The town’s city manager and part-time municipal judge have also resigned.
The resignations followed release of a Justice Department report last week that found fees and fines in the municipal court were abusive and possibly unlawful, while police subjected African Americans to stops without reasonable suspicion and arrests without probable cause.
