Suspect arrested in shootings of two Ferguson cops; was he a protester?
Police have charged a 20-year-old man with assault in shootings that wounded two police officers outside the police station early Thursday in Ferguson, Missouri.
Police say the suspect, Jeffrey Williams, admitted firing his gun from a car but claimed police were not the intended target, report the New York Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Riverfront TImes. He was charged with two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of shooting a firearm from a motor vehicle resulting in injury.
One officer, from the Webster Groves Police Department, was shot in the face. The other, from the St. Louis County Police Department, was shot in the shoulder. They were treated at a hospital for their injuries and released.
The officers were among officers who formed a line outside the police station to keep protesters away.
Prosecutors said Williams had attended protests in Ferguson, but several leaders of the demonstrations said they don’t recall seeing him. Williams’ girlfriend told a reporter she didn’t think he was a regular protester, according to the Post-Dispatch.
A frequent protester, Bishop Derrick Robinson, said Williams spoke to him about the shooting, the Post-Dispatch said. According to Robinson, Williams said he had been robbed earlier, so he returned to the area and shot his gun in the air.
“The only reason I am sharing this is to say that this had nothing to do with protesters,” Robinson added. “The protests did not cause this shooting.”
