A police officer was wounded Saturday night in Ferguson, Missouri—the St. Louis suburb where a police officer shot an unarmed 18-year-old last month. Although there were two protests over the killing of Michael Brown taking place at the time of the shooting, officials say the incidents were unrelated. “I wouldn’t have any reason to believe right now that it was linked in any way, shape, manner or form with the protests,” St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters, according to Reuters.
But in a sign of the continuing tensions between police and residents in Ferguson, many did not believe the official version of events of what happened Saturday night, points out the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Part of the reason may be because what happened isn’t exactly clear since the story has changed a bit. Initial reports claimed the officer saw two men trying to break into a business, but later Belmar told reporters the officer approached two men who were standing outside a community center that was closed. And detectives later determined it was actually just one suspect and not two. The suspect quickly fled and “fired multiple rounds at the officer” during the chase. The officer returned fire but there are no indications that the suspect was hit, notes local NBC affiliate KSDK.
The shooting comes only days after the Justice Department called on Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson to stop officers from wearing bracelets in support of Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Brown, reports the Associated Press.
