Man charged in shooting of 2 officers
Official: Unclear if gunfire targeted police in Ferguson
CLAYTON, Mo. — A 20-year-old man was charged with first-degree assault in the shooting of two police officers in front of the Ferguson Police Department early Thursday, according to Robert McCulloch, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, who announced the charges in Clayton on Sunday.
The man, Jeffrey Williams, acknowledged firing the shots, McCulloch said.
He said Williams, who is from north St. Louis County, was inside a car “at least for some of the shots.”
The weapon used was a .40-caliber handgun that matched bullet shell casings recovered from the shooting scene, McCulloch said, and the authorities have recovered it.
“It was possible he was firing shots at someone other than the police but struck the police officers,” McCulloch said.
Williams was arrested Saturday night, McCulloch said. He stressed that the investigation was continuing and that additional arrests may be made. The suspect was found through information provided by community members.
McCulloch said Williams indicated he had a dispute with some people who were in front of the police headquarters, “which had nothing to do with the demonstrations that were going on.” Williams indicated he was firing at the people he had the dispute with, the prosecutor said.
Law enforcement officials weren’t sure they “completely buy that part” of the defendant’s account, McCulloch said.
“I wouldn’t say he wasn’t targeting police,” he said. “I’m saying right now the evidence we have supports filing the charge that he may have been shooting at someone other than police and struck the police.”
McCulloch said it may turn out that police were the targets, but either way, essentially the same charges would apply.
Williams faces two counts of first-degree assault, each punishable by as long as life in prison, McCulloch said. Williams is also charged with firing a gun from a motor vehicle and three counts of “armed criminal action.” Each of those crimes is a felony.
Williams was being held in lieu of $300,000 bond. County police spokesman Brian Schellman said he didn’t know whether Williams had an attorney or when he’d appear in court. A message left at the St. Louis County Justice Center was not immediately returned.
“He is a demonstrator,” McCulloch said. “He was out there earlier that evening as part of the demonstration. He’s been out there on other occasions, part of the demonstrations.”
Williams was on probation for receiving stolen property in St. Louis County and wanted for failing to report to his probation officer, the prosecutor said.
Tony Rice, a fixture among Ferguson demonstrators who was on the scene during the shooting, said he immediately doubted that it had anything to do with the larger movement.
“Police have done a lot to us throughout this process, so why would someone want to start shooting at them now, at a time like this when we are winning?” Rice said, referring to Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson’s resignation and other departures within Ferguson city government.
“Our fight is with the system, not the police,” Rice said. “A win for us is not dead officers.”
Brittany Ferrell, 26, a protest leader with the group Millennial Activists United, suspected McCulloch tried to cast Williams as a protester to reflect negatively on the movement.
“This is a fear tactic,” she said. “We are very tight-knit. We know each other by face, if not by name, and we’ve never seen this person before.”
One active protest leader, Derrick Robinson, said Sunday that Williams had told him that he was being robbed at the time of the shooting — and that he shot into the air in response.
“He was in great remorse and said he wishes he could replay it and do it differently,” said Robinson, who visited Williams in jail Sunday.
He also said the 20-yearold had bruises that Williams told him came at the hands of officers Saturday night. A spokesman for St. Louis County police said that was untrue.
The police officers were shot early Thursday as a latenight demonstration began to break up after the resignation of Jackson in the wake of a Justice Department report that found widespread racial bias in the police department.
Jackson became the latest senior city administrator to step down after the report accused the city of using its municipal court and police force as moneymaking tools that routinely violated constitutional rights and disproportionately targeted blacks.
The report prompted the Missouri Supreme Court to appoint appellate Judge Roy Richter to preside over all cases in the city’s court and to enact changes. Ferguson municipal court Judge Ronald Brockmeyer resigned.
His resignation was followed by city manager John Shaw’s. Mayor James Knowles vowed to remain in office.
Protesters Wednesday chanted they wanted the mayor gone, too.
The two officers shot — one from the county police and the other from the nearby Webster Groves department — were standing shoulder to shoulder as part of a protective line facing demonstrators across the street from the police station. At least three gunshots came from a distance behind the demonstrators, as much as 125 yards away, the authorities said.
The officers, whom the authorities declined to name, were treated at a hospital and were recuperating at home, according to Chief Jon Belmar of the St. Louis County Police Department.
The Webster Groves officer, 32, a seven-year veteran, was shot in the face, the bullet entering under his right eye and becoming lodged behind his ear, officials said. The county officer, 41, a 14-year veteran, was shot in the shoulder, with the bullet coming out of his back.
The shooting ratcheted up tensions that have been simmering in Ferguson since Aug. 9, when a white police officer, Darren Wilson, fatally shot an unarmed, 18-year-old black man, Michael Brown. Wilson was cleared by the Justice Department’s report, and a grand jury led by McCulloch declined to indict Wilson in November.
Brown’s parents condemned the shooting of the officers and called for peace in a Thursday statement issued by their lawyers.
“We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement,” Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. said in the statement. “It cannot and will not be tolerated.”
Protests have continued in Ferguson since Thursday morning’s shootings, with the county police and Missouri Highway Patrol taking over security command from Ferguson police.
In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement Sunday praising swift action by police in dealing with the “heinous and cowardly crime.”
“This arrest sends a clear message that acts of violence against our law enforcement personnel will never be tolerated,” Holder said. Federal investigators worked with St. Louis County police to review ballistics evidence to help identify the suspect, he said.
Danielle Dear, 27, who said she is pregnant with Williams’ child, said in an interview Sunday afternoon that she spoke with Williams on Thursday morning.
“He just told me that he was involved in a shooting with some people. He said it wasn’t police,” Dear said. “I didn’t really want to know anything else.”
Dear, who said she is around Williams often, said she doesn’t believe that he was a regular protester in Ferguson. Information for this article was contributed by Manny Fernandez and John Eligon of The New York Times; by staff members of The
St. Louis Post-Dispatch; by Andrew Harris, Tim Bross and Elizabeth Campbell of Bloomberg News; by Jim Salter and Heather Hollingsworth of The Associated Press; and by Wesley Lowery, David A. Farenthold and staff members of The Washington Post.