Two police officers are listed in “serious” condition after they were shot early Thursday morning during a civil demonstration in Ferguson, Mo., according to the St. Louis County Police Department.
Tensions rose between protesters and police Wednesday night following the resignation of Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, who is now the sixth person to have resigned or been fired as a result of the damning Department of Justice report on the Ferguson justice system and its culture of racism.
Shots were fired from somewhere north or northwest of the Ferguson Police Department building shortly after 12am CT, where some protesters and police officers still stood. Before then, the protests, which had been taking place since around 8pm CT, had been peaceful.
Raw footage from livestreams broadcasting the latest protests captured the moment shots were fired.
2 officers shot in #Ferguson tonight. One officer from St Louis County. One officer from Webster Groves. #stl #officerdown
— St. Louis County PD (@stlcountypd) March 12, 2015
County officer is 41yrs old, 14yr veteran. @WebsterGroves
— St. Louis County PD (@stlcountypd) March 12, 2015
officer is 32yrs old, 7yr veteran. Both in serious condition. #Ferguson #stl
The two officers wounded by the gunshots are conscious but still in serious condition. At least three shots were fired at police officers, according to St. Louis County Police Chief John Belmar. The St. Louis County officer was shot in the shoulder while a Webster Groves officer was shot in the face.
“These police officers were standing there, and they were shot just because they were police officers,” Belmar told media in St. Louis Thursday morning.
“We have seen in law enforcement,” he continued, “that this is a very, very, very dangerous environment for the officers to work, in regarding the amount of gunfire that we have experienced up there.”
H/T ABC News | Photo via Elvert Barnes/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)