Manhunt continues in Ferguson for suspects in shooting of officers

FERGUSON, Mo. — The hunt for suspects in the shooting of two police officers at a protest rally in Ferguson, Missouri, entered a second day on Friday as community leaders appealed for reconciliation and justice in a town struggling against a legacy of racial rancor.

Law enforcement authorities were tight-lipped about any progress they may have made in tracking down whoever was responsible for wounding the officers during a volatile demonstration in front of police headquarters.

Police said they rounded up several people on Thursday but released them after questioning without making any arrests. So far authorities have scheduled no media briefings for Friday.

The vacuum of news on the manhunt kept the focus on efforts to ratchet down tensions that have spiked in the St. Louis suburb since the attack early on Thursday morning.

“We can find these criminals who committed this heinous act,” said Benjamin Crump, attorney for the family of Michael Brown, a black teenager killed by a white police officer in August, an event that made Ferguson a national symbol of strained relations between police and African-Americans.

“This can be an opportunity,” Crump told CNN. “The community and the police can come together.”

Thursday’s shooting took place a week after the release of a U.S. Justice Department report that appeared to vindicate long-standing complaints of pervasive racial bias leveled against Ferguson’s mostly white police force.

The report, initiated after Brown’s death, led to the resignation this week of the city’s police chief and other officials, but demonstrations, such as the rally where the two officers were shot, have persisted.

Activists have pressed for more reforms to address what the report called a “toxic environment” for the city’s mostly African-American residents.

President Barack Obama said such protests were warranted in the light of events in the city but said whoever shot the police officials must be brought to justice.

“What had been happening in Ferguson was oppressive and objectionable and was worthy of protest,” he said during an appearance on the ABC program “Jimmy Kimmel Live”.

“But there was no excuse for criminal acts, and whoever fired those shots shouldn’t detract from the issue. They’re criminals. They need to be arrested,” Obama said.

The shooting of the officers followed by less than three months the killing of two New York City patrolmen by a troubled man who said he was seeking to avenge the deaths of Brown and an unarmed black man in New York killed by police.

PEACEFUL PROTEST

Activists, condemning the wounding of the officers, held a candle-light prayer vigil for peace in Ferguson late Thursday. About 100 people then held a boisterous but peaceful protest outside the police station in light rain.

The crowd blocked traffic at times but there were no arrests and the demonstration passed without incident.

In Thursday’s shooting, a 41-year-old St. Louis County police officer suffered a shoulder wound and a 32-year-old colleague from the nearby Webster Groves Police Department sustained a facial wound that left a bullet lodged near his ear. Both were treated and released by a local hospital.

Crime Stoppers, a nationwide organization that works to prevent and solve crimes, has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the culprit, and two Missouri Congressmen have added $3,000.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference on Thursday that muzzle flashes were detected about 125 yards away from the rally, where earlier fist-fights had broken out among some of those in the crowd.

Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Los Angeles, Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago and David Bailey in Minneapolis.