Holder: Ferguson shooter 'disgusting,' 'punk'

FERGUSON, Mo. -- Less than 24 hours after two officers were hit by gunfire, a quieter protest took place outside police headquarters Thursday night, with no problems or arrests in this city torn by racial unrest. Missouri highway patrol and St. Louis County police took over security for the evening.

As the clock approached midnight, organizers dismissed the people who had gathered.

Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sharply condemned the shootings of police Wednesday night as a "disgusting and cowardly attack."

"What happened last night was a pure ambush," Holder said. "This was not someone trying to bring healing to Ferguson. This was a damn punk, a punk, who was trying to sow discord."

President Obama, in an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live TV show Thursday night, said, "We don't yet know what happened" in the shooting but offered his prayers to the wounded officers and their families.

"There's no excuse for criminal acts,'' the president said. "They're criminals. They need to be arrested. And then what we need to do is make sure that like-minded, good-spirited people on both sides, law-enforcement who have a terrifically tough job and people who understand they don't want to be stopped and harassed because of their race, that we're able to work together to try and come up with some good answers."

Mayor John Knowles was notified that the highway patrol and county would take over the security duties from the Ferguson police department "until further notice," the county police department said in a statement.

Sgt. Brian Schellman, a spokesman for the St. Louis County police, said investigators interviewed several people regarding the shooting but made no arrests.

Just after 8 p.m., clergy gathered blocks from the Ferguson Police Department for a candlelight vigil. They prayed for the safety of the demonstrators and for the health of the two wounded police officers.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon was in St. Louis County to be briefed by local officials. He said the highway patrol and county police will be sending additional officers in anticipation of more protests Thursday night.

"I ask Missourians to join me in calling for calm in the wake of the cowardly and reprehensible ambush of two police officers who were acting to protect the public," Nixon said. "I also thank all the brave law enforcement officers who selflessly risk their lives each day to keep communities safe."

Routine police service remains in the hands of the embattled Ferguson police department, whose chief resigned in the wake of scathing criticism of the force by the Justice Department for racially biased policing.

St. Louis County police chief Jon Belmar had called for a "measured response" to the shooting of the two officers around midnight Wednesday, but reserved the right to beef up security as warranted.

The two officers "took a very hard hit" and were seriously injured, but will not sustain long-term injuries, he said. They were released from the hospital Thursday morning.

"We were lucky by God's grace that we didn't lose two officers last night," Belmar told reporters. "We could have buried two police officers over this. ... It's a miracle we haven't had any instances similar to this in the summer and fall."

Police recovered shell casings at the scene and fanned out across the city looking for the shooter.

A St. Louis County SWAT team stormed a home about four blocks from the police station Thursday morning, clambering on top off the roof, KSDK-TV reported.

Neighbors said three people were taken from the home in handcuffs. Police said they were taken in for questioning, but there were no immediate arrests.

The shootings occurred as demonstrators were winding up a protest following the resignation of the city's police chief in the wake of a scathing Justice Department report alleging bias in the police department and court.

"This is really an ambush," he said. "You can't see it coming. You don't understand that it's going to happen and you're basically defenseless from the fact that it is happening to you at the time. "

Belmar said one of the officers, a 32-year-old, seven-year veteran from nearby Webster Groves, was shot below his right eye. The bullet lodged near his right ear, he said.

The second officer, a 41-year-old with 14 years on the St. Louis County force, was hit in the shoulder by a bullet that came out his back.

At the time of the shooting, Belmar said, the number of demonstrators had dwindled from around 150 to about 75 and the number of police at the scene had dropped to about 40.

He said the two wounded officers were standing in a line of 20 to 25 other officers when three or four shots were fired from about 125 feet away.

"I feel very confident that whoever did this was there for the wrong reason, not the right reason, and came there for whatever nefarious reason it was," Belmar said in a news conference. "But I do feel like there was an unfortunate association with that gathering."

Jeff Roorda, who heads the St. Louis Police Officers Association, said the shooting sent a chill through the law enforcement community.

He called on state and county officials to restrict protests to daytime hours.

"This is a very volatile situation," Roorda said. "You have outside agitators racing to be here. This isn't safe for police, community or peaceful protesters."

Roorda said he's spoken to the police officer who was shot in the shoulder and that he was doing remarkably well considering the circumstances.

Police officers at the scene last night said were jolted by the timing of the incident. The protests were breaking up and only a few dozen demonstrators were left when the shots were fired.

"There's been a recurring phenomenon throughout the protests where you see the flash-points, the bad things coming ," he said. "But last night, as it was described to me by many of the cops that were here here, it wasn't that way. The crowd was just mulling around. A lot of the protesters were starting to disperse. No one saw it coming."

The shootings came hours after Ferguson officials announced that Police Chief Thomas Jackson, who will step down March 19.

Jackson, 57, became the third top city official to leave following the release of the Justice Department report. Judge Ronald Brockmeyer and City Manager John Shaw resigned earlier this week.

Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff is serving as acting chief until the city completes a nationwide search for a new police chief, the city said in a news release. Jackson will receive a severance payment of approximately $100,000 and health insurance for one year.

Belmar said he has called for a "measured response" to the shootings, but reserved the right to call upon the highway patrol for additional help if necessary.

He said police are planning to assess their security plans outside the Ferguson Police Department and talk to protesters and community leaders about how to move forward.

When asked about security in the area moving forward, Belmar said it is very difficult to sustain this kind of situation without injuries to the public or police officers.

"I think we need to re-evaluate that, and that's one of the things I've been doing since my phone rang at midnight tonight," said Belmar. "We're going to be looking for different ways to approach this. Obviously my first priority is to the community, but that's followed very very closely to my police officers and making sure that they're able to do what they're supposed to do out there in a safe manner."

Earlier in the day, Obama condemned the shootings, saying in a tweet that "violence against police is unacceptable." "Our prayers are with the officers in MO," he wrote. "Path to justice is one all of us must travel together."

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger said doesn't believe the shooting will set back any gains made in the city.

"I don't consider this incident a setback toward healing," he said. "I don't believe it's going to affect any healing process that is going on in the community. I think the community at large is fully supportive of these police officers and probably wishes the very best for them."

Knowles and the Ferguson City Council released a statement thanking law enforcement agencies that have helped the city in the past seven months and reaching out the community.

"While we respect the right to peacefully protest, we cannot continue to move forward under threats of violence and destruction to our community," the statement said. "We ask our residents and clergy in this area to partner with us as we make our way through this process."

The shootings came as a shock to the crowds gathered outside the police department. DeRay McKesson, 29, one of the most visible protesters in Ferguson, was sitting in his car and about to tweet that the crowd was thinning out when he heard about four gunshots to his right.

"It was like pow, pow, pow, pow — like four consistent shots," he said. "I was looking straight up at the police department and I see an officer fall and I see officers surround him."

McKesson said protesters, who had been gathered at the police department since 8 p.m. Wednesday, hit the ground as soon as the shots rang out and scattered trying to get to safety amid the chaos.

"Every single gun any officer had was drawn and they were all behind something," he said, adding that officers ran and ducked behind cars and the department building.

St. Louis County Alderman posted a Vine showing people crawling on the ground after police reacted to the gunshots.

Heather De Mian, 44, of St. Charles, Mo., was live streaming the scene outside of the police department when the shots rang out.

"Those gunshots went right past my head," said De Mian, who is in a wheelchair and tried to duck down. "I tried to go down low so my head wasn't sticking out."

She said soon after the shots a swarm of St. Louis County Police crime scene cars showed up and later, a group of officers marched up the hill on a side street in the direction of where the sound of gunshots had come from.

Meanwhile, De Mian is adamant that the shooters were not with demonstrators.

"The shots came from a block away from the protests," she said. "It's incredibly dangerous to try to link the protesters to this without evidence. It could be someone trying to frame the protesters or someone who was aiming at the protesters and was a bad shot. Whoever shot put everyone's life in danger."

An Aug. 9 shooting of unarmed African-American teen Michael Brown by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson set off weeks of unrest and violence in the St. Louis suburb.

Brown's family issued a statement Thursday condemning the police shootings. "We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement," the statement said. They also denounced the actions of "stand-alone agitators" who might try to derail the a peaceful movement addressed at police brutalit

Wilson was not charged in Brown's killing and the Justice Department found no reason to bring civil rights charges against him.

Contributing: William M. Welch in Los Angeles; Jimmy Bernhard, KSDK-TV, St. Louis; Associated Press