Ferguson protesters back at shootings' site

FERGUSON, Mo. -- The St. Louis region awoke to an uneasy calm Friday as police continued searching for the person responsible for shooting two officers a day earlier during a protest outside the police station in the suburb of Ferguson.

Demonstrators returned to the police station Thursday night for a peaceful but boisterous rally as they sought to deny any link to the violence and shift attention from the shooting to their calls for change in Ferguson's police and court system.

Sgt. Brian Schellman, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Police, said Friday morning that detectives were continuing to look into leads but that no one was in custody. He described it as an "active investigation."

Investigators on Thursday scoured nearby streets for evidence, and some people were taken in for questioning.

All were later released.

About 100 protesters marched and chanted for a few hours, heading home as rain began to fall.

They had a simple, symbolic goal: to keep the demonstrations alive the day after the two officers were shot.

"What the coward who shot at the police officers last night did was to try to take us off message," said Cat Daniels, an activist known as Mama Cat, who handed crackers and cookies to protesters. "We refuse to be taken off message."

In many ways, the demonstrations Thursday night unfolded as if the shooting never happened.

Protesters used the same confrontational speech they had in the past. Some wore Guy Fawkes masks or bandannas covering their faces. Others denounced "racist police" and blared rap songs with anti-police lyrics.

Several Ferguson officials have resigned since the release of a Justice Department report that accused the city of racially biased and unconstitutional practices in law enforcement.

But activists have demanded that other officials, including the mayor, also step down.

Anger over the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old who was shot by a white Ferguson officer in August and whose death ignited unrest, remained as fierce as ever.

"How many kids did you guys kill today?" one protester shouted at police officers who walked by him.

As Daniels put it: "I personally feel bad for the officers and what they had to go through. But they went home. Mike Brown laid on that ground for 41/2 hours [after he died], and no one cared."

There were no arrests during the demonstration. But activists said on social media that two protesters had been pulled over in traffic stops nearby and arrested.

The shooting occurred shortly after midnight Thursday as officers guarded the police station while a demonstration was winding down. Officials called the shooting an "ambush," and said that the officers had been targeted. One officer was shot in the face and the other in the shoulder. Both were treated at a nearby hospital and released.

Law enforcement officials made several small but significant changes in their handling of the protests and guarding of the police station, taking a more cautious approach. During the protest Thursday night, officers mostly stood behind four parked police sport utility vehicles.

One of the police commanders in charge of overseeing security outside the building said he wanted to "reduce some of that visibility" of his officers.

"There is probably more of a sense of unease, a little bit more nervousness, based on what happened last night," the commander, Lt. Jerry Lohr with the St. Louis County Police Department, said as he stood outside the police station.

"Officers are worried. I think the spouses, the families' of these officers, are extremely worried."

Lohr had won praise from many protesters last year for de-escalating tensions between law enforcement and the demonstrators.

He said a few protesters he knew had approached him Thursday to denounce the shooting.

"I don't think it's fair to stereotype and say this was an act of the protesters," he said of the shooting. "The majority of the people that are out here are here to have their voices heard. The majority of people out here aren't here to physically engage the police."

Also Thursday night, President Barack Obama reflected on the shooting during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

"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 understandably don't want to be stopped and harassed just because of their race -- that they are able to work together to come up with some good answers."

Meanwhile, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani blamed Obama for the shootings, saying the president sets the tone for the nation.

Giuliani said Thursday on WNYM-AM that Obama isn't addressing the "enormous amount of crime" being committed by blacks.

He also said Obama should say the kinds of things Bill Cosby used to say before the comedian was accused of sexual assault -- which Cosby denies. Cosby often exhorted black people to focus on education and parenting.

The White House declined to comment Friday on Giuliani's remarks.

Information for this article was contributed by Manny Fernandez and Mitch Smith of The New York Times and by Jim Kuhnhenn and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 03/14/2015

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