Ferguson officer shot; police say no protest link
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| Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers stand posted at the corner of Chambers Road and West Florissant Avenue on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo., as police search for a suspect in the shooting of a Ferguson police officer. Authorities say a police officer has been shot in Ferguson, the U.S. city that has been the scene of unrest since the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old, by a white police officer. |
FERGUSON,
Missouri (AP) -- Authorities searched Sunday for a suspect in the
shooting of a police officer in Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb where
there have been angry protests since a white officer fatally shot an
unarmed 18-year-old black man last month.
Although
there were two protests about the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown
happening when the officer was shot Saturday night, St. Louis County
Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference early Sunday that he
didn't think they were related to the wounding of the officer.
St.
Louis County Police Sgt. Brian Schellman, a police spokesman, said in
an email that only one suspect was involved in the shooting, not two as
earlier reported.
The suspect was standing
outside a closed community center when the officer approached Saturday
night.
The suspect fled and the officer gave chase. That's when the man
turned and shot him in the arm, police said.
Belmar said the officer returned fire, but that police have no indication that anyone else was shot.
The officer was treated and released from a hospital, Schellman said.
Schellman said he didn't know why the body camera the wounded officer was wearing was turned off during the shooting.
The
shooting comes amid simmering tension between community members and
police in Ferguson, where two-thirds of the residents are black, but
only three of the city's 53 police officers are African-American. The
shooting of Brown and police response to the protests stoked a national
discourse about police tactics and race.
On
Saturday, Brown's parents told The Associated Press they were unmoved by
a videotaped apology released days earlier by Ferguson Police Chief Tom
Jackson, whose attempt to march with protesters Thursday night sparked a
clash that led to several arrests.
When asked
whether Jackson should be fired, Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, said
he should be. Brown's father, Michael Brown Sr., said rather than an
apology, they would like Darren Wilson, the officer who shot their son,
to be arrested.
A county grand jury is weighing whether to indict Wilson in Brown's shooting.
The
Justice Department, which is investigating whether Brown's civil rights
were violated, is conducting a broader probe into the Ferguson police
department. On Friday, it urged Jackson to ban his officers from wearing
bracelets supporting Wilson while on duty and from covering up their
name plates with black tape.
The bracelets, which sparked complaints
from Ferguson residents, are black with "I am Darren Wilson" in white
lettering.
