Two police officers shot overnight in the troubled Missouri city of Ferguson -- which for months has battled racial tensions -- were victims of an "ambush," police said Thursday.
One officer was shot in the face, and the other in the shoulder, as protesters outside the Ferguson police station -- who gathered after the city's embattled police chief resigned -- dispersed at around midnight (0500 GMT).
The incident renewed tensions in the St Louis suburb, which has been on a razor's edge since the August 9 killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer.
The fatal shooting highlighted the long-standing problem in some US communities of harsh treatment of young black men by mainly white police.
"By God's grace, we didn't lose two officers last night," said St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar as detectives combed the scene of the shooting amid a search for suspects.
"This is really an ambush, is what it is," Belmar told reporters.
"That is something that is very difficult to guard against when you have a group of officers standing together in a large group and you have gunfire, certainly gunfire directed at them."
The shooting came just hours after Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson resigned, in the wake of a blistering US Justice Department report that shed a damning light on racial bias among his officers.
In Washington, US Attorney General Eric Holder denounced the shooting as "inexcusable and repugnant" and offered the Justice Department's "full range of investigative resources."
- Sniffer dogs deployed -
Yellow police tape surrounded the Ferguson police station Thursday morning as detectives combed the vicinity with sniffer dogs, looking for clues.
At least three shots were fired, witnesses said.
Mid-morning, a SWAT team was seen raiding a brick bungalow about four blocks from the police station. Neighbors said three people had been taken away, including one woman in handcuffs.
Protest leaders doubted the shooter, who is thought to have been armed with a handgun, was among their ranks.
"There are some who have been waiting for any moment to attempt to vilify and discredit protesters," one leader, DeRay Mckesson, said on Twitter.
"But the shooter did not stand with us," he said, adding that the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) should take over the case.
The injured officers -- one, age 41, from the St Louis County force, and the other, 32, from the St Louis suburb of Webster Groves -- have been released from hospital, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
One still had a bullet lodged behind his ear, Belmar said.
Wednesday was the 215th night of demonstrations in Ferguson -- some small, some huge -- prompted by the August 9 shooting of Brown by officer Darren Wilson on a residential street.
Wilson claims the 18-year-old tried to grab his sidearm, a view accepted by a grand jury and a Justice Department report made public last week.
Others contend that Brown had put his hands up in a gesture of surrender when Wilson, no longer with the Ferguson police force, opened fire.
- 'Muzzle flashes' -
Describing Wednesday night's incident, Belmar said officers saw "muzzle flashes" and estimated the shooter was perhaps 125 yards (meters) away.
They drew their weapons, but did not fire back into the darkness, he said.
"When the shooting rang out, it took everybody by surprise," Lawrence Bryant, a photographer for the St. Louis American newspaper, told CNN.
The protest had been generally peaceful, with only two people arrested at different moments for blocking the street, Belmar said.
In its searing report last week, the Justice Department faulted Ferguson's police department and municipal court for targeting African-Americans in an attempt to generate income for the community of 21,000, where two-thirds of the population is black.
Two police officers shot overnight in the troubled Missouri city of Ferguson — which for months has battled racial tensions — were victims of an “ambush,” police said Thursday.
One officer was shot in the face, and the other in the shoulder, as protesters outside the Ferguson police station — who gathered after the city’s embattled police chief resigned — dispersed at around midnight (0500 GMT).
The incident renewed tensions in the St Louis suburb, which has been on a razor’s edge since the August 9 killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer.
The fatal shooting highlighted the long-standing problem in some US communities of harsh treatment of young black men by mainly white police.
“By God’s grace, we didn’t lose two officers last night,” said St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar as detectives combed the scene of the shooting amid a search for suspects.
“This is really an ambush, is what it is,” Belmar told reporters.
“That is something that is very difficult to guard against when you have a group of officers standing together in a large group and you have gunfire, certainly gunfire directed at them.”
The shooting came just hours after Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson resigned, in the wake of a blistering US Justice Department report that shed a damning light on racial bias among his officers.
In Washington, US Attorney General Eric Holder denounced the shooting as “inexcusable and repugnant” and offered the Justice Department’s “full range of investigative resources.”
– Sniffer dogs deployed –
Yellow police tape surrounded the Ferguson police station Thursday morning as detectives combed the vicinity with sniffer dogs, looking for clues.
At least three shots were fired, witnesses said.
Mid-morning, a SWAT team was seen raiding a brick bungalow about four blocks from the police station. Neighbors said three people had been taken away, including one woman in handcuffs.
Protest leaders doubted the shooter, who is thought to have been armed with a handgun, was among their ranks.
“There are some who have been waiting for any moment to attempt to vilify and discredit protesters,” one leader, DeRay Mckesson, said on Twitter.
“But the shooter did not stand with us,” he said, adding that the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) should take over the case.
The injured officers — one, age 41, from the St Louis County force, and the other, 32, from the St Louis suburb of Webster Groves — have been released from hospital, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
One still had a bullet lodged behind his ear, Belmar said.
Wednesday was the 215th night of demonstrations in Ferguson — some small, some huge — prompted by the August 9 shooting of Brown by officer Darren Wilson on a residential street.
Wilson claims the 18-year-old tried to grab his sidearm, a view accepted by a grand jury and a Justice Department report made public last week.
Others contend that Brown had put his hands up in a gesture of surrender when Wilson, no longer with the Ferguson police force, opened fire.
– ‘Muzzle flashes’ –
Describing Wednesday night’s incident, Belmar said officers saw “muzzle flashes” and estimated the shooter was perhaps 125 yards (meters) away.
They drew their weapons, but did not fire back into the darkness, he said.
“When the shooting rang out, it took everybody by surprise,” Lawrence Bryant, a photographer for the St. Louis American newspaper, told CNN.
The protest had been generally peaceful, with only two people arrested at different moments for blocking the street, Belmar said.
In its searing report last week, the Justice Department faulted Ferguson’s police department and municipal court for targeting African-Americans in an attempt to generate income for the community of 21,000, where two-thirds of the population is black.
