(Newswire.net — March 12, 2015) — St Louis, Mo. – The County police department in Ferguson confirmed on Twitter that two of its officers “were shot outside the Ferguson Police Department shortly after midnight.”
Media reported two officers were shot amid protests conducted early on Thursday morning, in front of the Ferguson police station. Reportedly, one officer was shot in the shoulder and the other in the face.
According to the St. Louis County Police chief, Jon Belmar both the injured officers are conscious and currently being treated at a local hospital.
“These police officers were standing there and they were shot, just because they were police officers,” Belmar told journalists at a press conference.
According to a Reuter’s photographer at the scene, when shot was heard, a few dozen demonstrators fled with some screaming, “They hit a cop.”
St. Louis County Police Chief John Belmar, appointed after previous police Chief Tom Jackson resigned, said that it appeared that at least three shots were “directed exactly at” the officers.
The protest outside the Ferguson Police Department began after police chief Tom Jackson Jackson’s resignation on Wednesday, as the sixth city official to step down after Department of Justice reported last week found racial prejudice to be endemic at Ferguson’s courts and Police Department.
The report was prompted after the US saw a wave of large-scale protests against police brutality following the shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by Ferguson policeman Darren Wilson in August last year, and controversial grand jury decision finding that Wilson acted in self defense.
After the DoJ report, Ferguson City Manager John Shaw resigned. He told the USA Today that he believes his resignation “is in the community’s best interest.”
Soon after resignation of the Ferguson City Manager, municipal court judge, Ronald Brockmeyer, resigned among allegations of unjustly issuing aggressive fines against African-Americans.
The top City’s official resignation was followed by the resignation of the County police Chief Tom Jackson, who suffered media and public pressure, urging him to leave his position.