*Prosecutors on Monday charged an 18-year-old man with assault on police officers after an exchange of gunfire Sunday on the anniversary of the shooting of unarmed black man Michael Brown by a white officer in Ferguson, Mo.
The man, identified as Tyrone Harris, of St. Louis, was charged with four counts of first-degree assault on law enforcement, five counts of armed criminal action and one count of discharging a firearm at a motor vehicle. Harris remains in a hospital in critical condition and is being held on a $250,000 cash-only bond.
Earlier Monday, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the shooter used a stolen handgun to unleash a “remarkable amount of gunfire” on police officers.
Belmar said the gunfire began with two groups of agitators apparently shooting at each other before one gunman darted across a parking lot and was confronted by four officers who pulled up in an unmarked vehicle.
The suspect then opened fire on the police vehicle and was badly wounded in the ensuing foot chase and exchange of gunshots with the four detectives, police said.
Belmar said early Monday that police estimated more than 40 rounds had been fired.
The shooters “were criminals; they weren’t protesters,” he said. “We can’t sustain this as a community,” he said adding, “We can’t afford to have this kind of violence. It’s untenable at this point”.
The violence was in marked contrast to a day of mostly subdued, peaceful commemorations in Ferguson and elsewhere to mark the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s shooting death.
In St. Louis Monday, clergy and civil rights activists led more than 100 people in a rally through city streets on Monday, shouting “This is what democracy looks like” and “Black lives matter.”
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