The Guardian’s Jon Swaine has wrapped up the main developments about the shooting of the police officers at the Ferguson protest in this story.
So with that we are going to bring this blog to a close.
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Deray McKesson, a prolific Twitter user who took part in the protest was stopped for speeding by the police as he drove home from the demonstration.
After being warned to slowdown he was told that the wounded officers would be OK. The police officer involved in the cautioned denied that one of officers was shot in the face, McKesson reported.
And on the way home I get stopped by the police. Apparently I was going 43 mph and the speed limit is 30 mph. I just want to go home.
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 12, 2015
The officer also let me know that the two officers shot will be okay, that the bulletproof vest of one of them saved his life.
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 12, 2015
For what it's worth, the officer that pulled me over completely understood the nature of the unrest. He got why we're protesting.
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 12, 2015
The officer also said that contrary to reports, no officer was shot in the face tonight. He said chest and shoulder only.
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 12, 2015
The officer that pulled me over also noted that he'd be leaving the police force soon to pursue another career path. I encouraged that.
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 12, 2015
Police officers near the scene of the shooting have been filmed searching the area with metal detectors, Paul Hampel from the St Louis Dispatch reports.
Investigator sweeping with a metal detector where two police officers were wounded tonight in #Ferguson. pic.twitter.com/ClQqwlA7ds
— Paul Hampel (@phampel) March 12, 2015
Here’s an audio clip from the press conference with Belmar in which he says those who shot the officers were “embedded” with the protesters.
More details have been released about the injured officers. The Webster Grove officer, who was was shot in the face, is reported to be 32 years old with five years experience. His St Louis County colleague who was shot in the shoulder, is 41 with 14 years experience. The details were provided at the press conference by St Louis police chief Jon Belmar.
Webster Groves officer is 32 years old with five years on force; STL County officer is 41 with 14 years on
— Christine Byers (@ChristineDByers) March 12, 2015
Video captures moment shots were fired
The Guardian has obtained powerful video footage that captures the moment gunfire was heard at the protest outside Ferguson police station. Three shots are heard, followed by screaming and a woman’s voice describing the gunfire and that police officers had drawn their guns.
WARNING: The video’s soundtrack may be disturbing for some viewers
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I’m handing over our rolling coverage now to my colleague Mark Smith. Here’s an update of events as they stand so far:
- Two police officers have been shot in Ferguson at a protest outside the local police department. The St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar said the police officers were shot “just because they were police officers.” Both officers remain in hospital and no update has been provided on their condition.
- Several shots were fired at the protest. The Webster Grove officer was shot in the face, and the St Louis County officer was shot in the shoulder. At this stage it is not clear where the shots originated from.
- The shooting came just hours after the embattled police chief of Ferguson, Missouri, Thomas Jackson resigned. His department had been accused of racial bias in a scathing report by the US government.
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Summary
Here’s some further quotes from the press conference Jon Belmar just held:
We’ve had occasion to be involved in many of the events in Ferguson since Michael Brown was killed and we’ve been very fortunate as we’ve moved forward not to have similar instances like this happen to us.
As I have said all along, we can not sustain this forever without problems – that’s not an indictment on everybody that’s out there expressing their first amendment rights.
But what we have seen in law enforcement that this is a very, very, very dangerous environment for the officers to work in regarding the amount of gunfire that we’ve experienced out there
A St Louis County police spokesman has also told my colleague Jon Swaine: “Both officers are at hospital. No update yet on condition.”
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Belmar also told reporters that “the night was fairly uneventful until about midnight.”
He said the crowd was beginning to break up, when several shots were fired. The Webster Grove officer was shot in the face, and the St Louis County officer was shot in the shoulder.
The Webster police officer is 32 years old and has been on the force for five years. No information was provided about the other officer.
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St Louis police chief
My colleague Jon Swaine has been following the press conference. He’s just provided this update:
The St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar, said at the press briefing: “These police officers were standing there and they were shot, just because they were police officers.”
The officers sustained “serious gunshot wounds to face and upper torso”, according to Belmar. One was from St Louis County and one was from Webster Groves.
Asked to confirm protesters’ accounts that the shots were fired from people outside the group of demonstrators, Belmar said: “I don’t know who did the shooting to be honest with you right now, but somehow they were embedded in that group of folks.”
The press conference with the St Louis police department appears to be underway. According to reporters there he has confirmed the officers are from Webster Groves and County police department.
Stl county PIO Schellman confirms officers are from Webster Groves and County Pd
— Christine Byers (@ChristineDByers) March 12, 2015
Updated
There are now some reports emerging that the St Louis county chief Jon Belmar is about to hold a press conference
Stl county chief Belmar to brief media at Barnes in five minutes.
— Christine Byers (@ChristineDByers) March 12, 2015
The LA Times has reportedly spoken to several eyewitnesses to the shooting, who said there were approximately three shots fired.
Tony Rice, a Ferguson resident and activist at the protest, said about three shots were fired.
About 50 protesters were in the parking lot of a tire store and police were in riot gear in the parking lot of the police station across the street when the shots rang out, according to Heather De Mian, who was recording the events on a live stream.
“It was the first time I’d heard a bullet whiz and pass my head,” Rice said, adding that several officers dropped their riot shields to take cover. “There’s a bunch of shields on the ground,” he said.
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Tensions have been high in Ferguson after the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed African American man who was shot dead by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, last year.
The shooting raised tensions in the community and the fallout has continued across the country.
A scathing Department of Justice report on racist abuses in the city forced the mayor of Ferguson onto the defensive earlier in the week:
After the release of a damning Department of Justice (DoJ) report on racist abuses in his city last week, the mayor of Ferguson, Missouri, struck a defensive tone on Sunday, declining to call for a restructuring of the city’s police department and saying Ferguson had been singled out.
“Very few communities in this country have undergone this level of scrutiny, and the city of Ferguson has. After thousands of emails have been examined, court documents, police records, we know what the issues are, according to the Justice Department, with the city of Ferguson,” said James Knowles III, speaking to ABC.
“We’re the only one in the St Louis area who has undergone that scrutiny.”
Christine Byers, a crime reporter for the St Louis Post-Dispatch, has posted that police sources have told her the officers that were shot are expected to live.
Police source says both officers are expected to live
— Christine Byers (@ChristineDByers) March 12, 2015
St Louis Police confirms two officers shot
The St Louis County PD has confirmed that two officers were shot outside Ferguson police department.
Two @SaintLouCo police officers were shot outside the #Ferguson PD shortly after midnight. Gathering more info. Conditions not known.
— St. Louis County PD (@stlcountypd) March 12, 2015
Updated
The shooting came just hours after the embattled police chief of Ferguson, Missouri, Thomas Jackson, resigned.
His department had been accused of racial bias in a scathing report by the US government.
Jackson told colleagues in a resignation letter that “with profound sadness” he would quit as police chief effective 19 March.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this great city and to serve with all of you,” said Jackson. “I will continue to assist the city in any way I can in my capacity as private citizen.”
Jackson, 58, was the sixth senior Ferguson official to lose his job since the Department of Justice last week sharply criticised the city’s criminal justice system.
Investigators concluded police and court authorities targeted black people disproportionately and frequently violated their constitutional rights.
My colleague Jon Swaine in New York has a more detailed report of the resignation.
Updated
The St Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting more details on the shooting. According to the report, Ferguson lieutenant colonel Al Eickhoff said he did not think the officers shot were from his department.
Two police officers were hit by gunfire early Thursday outside the Ferguson police department.
The shots were fired as police were confronting protesters who had gathered outside the police station.
Ferguson Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff said he didn’t think either of the officers were from his department. He also didn’t know the extent of their injuries. Eickhoff was not at the scene at the time of the shooting but he said he was headed there.
A police source said one of the officers is a St. Louis County officer and the other a Webster Groves officer. The officers were taken to Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Earlier in the evening a small crowd of protesters had been gathering outside the Ferguson police station. This vine shows protesters chanting with police standing by:
Updated
Susan Weich, a reporter who writes for the St Louis Post-Dispatch, had been tweeting from the protest when the shots were reportedly heard.
We have a right to be out here, yells protester in #Ferguson. We can do this all night.
— Susan Weich (@susan_weich) March 12, 2015
Two officers shot in #Ferguson.
— Susan Weich (@susan_weich) March 12, 2015
Shots came from a house up the hill across from police station in #Ferguson
— Susan Weich (@susan_weich) March 12, 2015
Updated
Reports have emerged that two police officers have been shot at a protest in Ferguson.
The reports came shortly after midnight, early on Thursday. Our news report here has further details on the shootings:
Two police officers have been shot during a protest in Ferguson, according to reports.
Gunfire was heard at a protest outside the police department of Ferguson, Missouri, early on Thursday morning, according to a Reuters photographer at the scene.
A few dozen demonstrators fled after the sound with some screaming, “They hit a cop,” around midnight, the photographer said. Police could not be reached immediately for comment.
Several dozen protesters had gathered in front of the Ferguson police department earlier on Wednesday night, just hours after the city’s police chief, Thomas Jackson, announced his resignation.
Protesters had called for Jackson’s removal since the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on 9 August 2014. The killing triggered nationwide protests and drew scrutiny to police use of deadly force, especially against black men.
Jackson’s departure was the latest in a string of officials who stepped down following a scathing report from the US Justice Department that found widespread racially biased abuses in the city’s police department and municipal court.
We will continue to update you as events unfold and more details become available.
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