2 officers shot at protest outside Ferguson police station

Two officers were shot in Ferguson early today amid protests following the resignation of the police chief in the Missouri city that became a symbol of racial tensions after a white officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old.
The county police chief described the attack on the officers as "an ambush" that could easily have killed both men. Police said some suspects had been taken into custody for questioning, but no arrests had been made.
Both officers were released from the hospital today, said St Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman.
The shots were fired in front of the police department just as a small crowd of protesters began to break up. The demonstrators gathered after the resignation of Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, the latest city official to quit in the wake of a scathing federal government report alleging bias within the police department and court system.

Before the shooting, some at the protest were chanting to show they weren't satisfied with the resignations of Jackson and City Manager John Shaw earlier in the week, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
St Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said one officer was shot in the face, just below his right eye, with the bullet lodging behind his ear. The other officer was hit in the shoulder, and the bullet came out his back.

The protest was a familiar scene in Ferguson, which saw similar and much larger demonstrations after the shooting death of Michael Brown last summer by city police officer Darren Wilson. When Wilson, who is white, was cleared in November by a state grand jury, the decision set off further protests, looting and fires.

Several high-profile deaths of unarmed men and teens by police officers have stirred nationwide calls for greater police accountability.
Protesters in the Atlanta area added their voices to the chorus yesterday after an unarmed, naked black man was fatally shot by an officer responding to a complaint of a suspicious person at an apartment complex.
Police said officers converged late this morning on a home in Ferguson and took people in for questioning. No arrests were immediately made.
Based on where the officers were standing and the trajectory of the bullets, the shots appeared to be aimed directed at the police, Belmar said.

"This is really an ambush," he said. "You are basically defenseless. It is hard to guard against."
In a statement, US Attorney General Eric Holder said the wounding of the two officers was "inexcusable and repugnant."
Holder said "such senseless acts of violence threaten the very reforms that nonviolent protesters in Ferguson and around the country" have been working toward for several months.