150 protesters were in the roadway. at 9:00 ferguson makes one arrest of a protester in the roadway. protesters leave the roadway. at 10:00, due to the amount of people in the roadway, another code 1,000 additional 25 officers in come. eventually we end up with 69 police officers that respond. at 10:30, ferguson makes an additional arrest of a protester in the roadway, and at 11:15 they make a final arrest. at this point we're beginning to see the crowd diminish. about a quarter to midnight we're seeing the crowd beginning to leave and some of the police officers beginning to leave. i would imagine we had 75 protesters, probably 40 police officers left at this time.

so we're thinking that it is thinning out. at 12:00 am we hear three or four shots ring out. some of you have seen that on the media. these are shots that are not in the air, not in the ground one you can tell is when you listen to the audio, you hear those shots singing. those shots immediately strike two officers standing together. but these officers are standing in a line of at least 20 to 25 officers. so it's very evident we have a group of officers standing there. and the officer is shot right here at the high point of your cheek, and the bullet lodges right behind his ear, and that bullet is still with him. he's going to have to have further evaluation to figure out what they are going to do with thatting round. the st. louis county officer was

struck right here on the shoulder, and the bullet came out the middle of his right back between his scapula and his spine. fortunately with both officers we don't have any remarkable long-term injuries. in other words there wasn't a -- it wasn't in somebody's brain or heart or anything like this but you need to know these two officers took a very hard hit, any time you have shot in the face and have a bullet lodged in your head or have a through and through wound where a bullet entered your shoulder and comes out of your back those are hard hits. so we're lucky by god's grace we didn't lose two officers last night. one of the things i talked about is that we do need to understand as a community, and we certainly understand it as a police department and law enforcement,

that we have an obligation that folks that want to express their first amendment rights have the ability to do that but when you look at the tenor of at least some of the people involved in the protests or civil unrest it can be very troubling at times. and it's difficult for the officers to discern within a crowd of folks who are perhaps there for the right reason exactly who is doing what. and similar to last night, i would have to imagine that these protesters were among the shooters that shot at the police officers. and for the police officers that are standing there, and really don't have the ability at nighttime to understand what they are looking at. it's dark there's a whole lot of people out there, there's a lot of noise, it's very difficult for the officers to understand what they are looking at at the time.

and really be able to evaluate any threats. so i would just tell you that you need to understand that. i think it's a miracle that we haven't had any instances similar to this over the summer and fall with the amount of gunfire that i personally heard last summer and fall i think it's a miracle we haven't had something like this happen and i think we're very fortunate that that has happened. i would also like to point out that my officers tell me that when this happened when they heard the shots, and when they heard the bullets singing past that they saw muzzle flashes, but they were probably about 125-yards away. many officers drew their weapons, but no officers fired. but what if we're in a situation to where it's 25 or 50 yards away? and it's a threat that is in front of you, but 40, 50, 60, 70

people are around? we really need to understand the dangers of this. i'm not blaming anybody other than the people who took a shot at my officers and hit them but these are situations that are very difficult to navigate through, if you are a police officer on the street and you are doing everything you can to protect people's rights anything you can be doing to protect life and property, this is another layer that makes it very difficult for our police officers out there to deal with and i hope people understand that because it's a very tricky line for us to be able to walk. ladies and gentlemen, we were very close to having happened what happened in nypd. we could have buried two police officers next week over this. and i didn't really expect the amount of agitation at times

that we saw last night out of the crowd, based on the news that happened yesterday, and not everybody there expressed agitation, but we certainly are always cautious but i didn't expect obviously either that we would have two police officers shot last night. one of the officers from st. louis county is a 41 year old, a 14-year veteran. the webster grove officer is 32 years old and is a five-year veteran. i'll take any questions. >> reporter: any idea who you are looking for? >> we have some perhaps leads on that. i'm going to leave that at loan at the time. they are still out in the field, in fact the lieutenant sergeant and his staff have still not had time to come can into clayton to brief me. as you would imagine this is the number one priority right now,

to identify these individuals, that individual or individuals who shot our police officers. >> reporter: but no one is in custody? >> no, ma'am. >> reporter: the shot was 125 yards away what confidence do you have that it was even associated with the protesters rather than somebody taking an opportunity to shoot a cop? >> yeah i talked to my staff in detail about that. there are indications that would lead us to believe that obviously some of the folks who were there to participate last night and expressing their opinions, they were spread over a wider area than just confined and that did extend not only to the north and south, but also to the west. so i feel very confident that whoever did this was there for the wrong reason not the right reason and came there for whatever nefarious reason it

was. >> reporter: you mentioned this almost impossible path where officers are sitting ducks and you have protesters are [ inaudible ]. have you thought about how you are going to go about this going forward? and is there anything you can do differently? and can you speak to the concern from law enforcement about officers not being too quick to react to this. >> yeah, i would back up to the last part of that. i sent a text out to two of my senior staff members that said listen, our bearing this evening is going to be very measured. we want to make sure we don't cross that line and that we protect those people's rights. how is it going to happen differently? we have some experience in this the county police department does, in running some of the

operations last fall and during the grand jury verdict and before, and different things like that so we're going to be exploring perhaps having to readopt those plans we have. one of the things with the code 1,000 plan that's really not a plan it's reactive. and i think it's incumbent on myself to make sure we come up with a plan. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] is there a chance for [ inaudible ] police officers [ inaudible ] go under the county umbrella at this point? >> i guess there's that chance. i think the better way to answer that question is we have not be in any official talks with ferguson regarding that issue, and as the police chief of st. louis county i have an obligation to make sure no resident of st. louis is not

without competent police department. i had a question over here. >> reporter: do you expect to send more officers out tonight? >> i do. i don't know if we're going to have any issues tonight, but please remember we have an responsibility. these officers took an oath to protect life and property and these are some of the things that we are expected to do and it's unfortunate when these things happen. law enforcement is at times a very dangerous proposition, but it's incumbent upon me and my staff to make sure we're doing things to give our officers the best chance to succeed all the way around. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> one of the things that i'm anxious to do right now, is get ahold of some of my community leaders out there and talk to those folks. i think that's critically important. there's been an assertion that perhaps some of the leaders we

have, don't necessarily have leverage over folks that may do certain things but shame on us if we don't continue those conversations, and those conversations have been ongoing. i think as the police chief it is going to be very important to bring those community leaders back in and go hey, listen these are my issues i need to bring you up to seed on this what ideas do you have as we move forward that can assist the police department and thereby assist the community. because that's really what we're there for. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> i feel like it's a pistol a handgun. we recovered some shell casings in the area. we don't know 100% yet if those will be the shell casings that are going to be attributed to this shooting. so -- but we do believe it's a hand gun based on the way the shot -- the shots sounded and the injuries to the police

officers did not appear to be rifle wounds. >> reporter: have you learned anything from talking to any of the protesters that were there last night, about suspects possibly? >> yeah, that's part of the investigation i won't go into. but it was certainly an opportunity for us to talk to some folks, and i think it would not be an overstatement to tell you that there have been several people that have been very forthright with the investigation, so that is certainly encouraging. >> reporter: some of the protesters today in this is [ inaudible ] break up among the protesters [ inaudible ] can you speak to that? was it more violent than normal? >> yeah it was pretty rowdy. i think that is pretty clear. i think some people might have seen the news report of fistfights and things like that. we have had nights that it has been much worse. but at the end of the day, i

really did not expect last night when i first started monitoring this that it was going to spin to the extent that it did, regarding the agitation. you try to expect those things but sometimes it's very difficult to figure out. you know we saw a report about the fact that there were rocks and bottles being thrown. i have not been able to confirm that myself. so i don't know if it happened or not. but i think it is true that there was agitation in the crowd. i have got this question right here. >> reporter: can the county executive answer any questions about [ inaudible ]? >> yeah i'll turn it over to the county executive in just a second. you guys can finish up with me now. >> reporter: i know you guys have been receiving threats this summer, a variety. is this in line with any of those threats? >> categorize that for me. >> reporter: just -- some of the things that we have heard as far as police being threatened you

know actions that people are going to take as revenge -- >> right. some of this is gathered for example through intelligence or we hear things or however we're able to glean those things out. but some of the threats are very overt. there is somebody standing a foot away from an officer expressing they could like to do bad things to that officer. so we're certainly well aware of that. and it's incumbent on us to try to craft something where everything works for everybody. the responsibility of last night's shooting lies with whoever did that shooting. i want to be very clear about that. but it is at times like i said a very difficult environment for us to work in. >> reporter: at this point [ inaudible ] a lot of people want to know what can you do now moving forward? i know you talked about

[ inaudible ]. >> we're going to have to take a look at the security plan similar to what we did last fall. that's part of it. i think the community engagement is part of it. but this has been in the news sickle a whole lot lately. i understand why. it started off with a court clerk, and then two police officers that went to the city manager. now we're dealing with the chief who has stepped down. it just kind of seems like that it is always in somebody's mind right now, and i think -- so part of this i would hope you know, would get down to where we could continue to have civil discourse about this the right way. and i think perhaps only time maybe will satisfy that. we'll have to see. >> reporter: do you believe in [ inaudible ] out of control [ inaudible ] also help out with [ inaudible ]? >> i would like to tell you that

i have more confidence in the community than that right now. and i believe i do. that wouldn't shut the door to the fact that i'm going to certainly ask for assistance manpower assistance regarding helping as we do some things for example, different. but i have to count on me municipalities to be there doing it for the right reasons. i have to count on the highway patrol. as you know my overtime bill was over $5 million. so these are expensive propositions for us and we would certainly -- we need the assistance where we can get it with these very good law enforcement agencies that -- that some to the assistance of ferguson. >> reporter: would you consider what happened last night at this point a random accident? you know what i'm saying is it like -- was it just a random shooting? as much as you can plan security and what not.

if someone just wants to go on a hill and shoot -- [ inaudible ] i don't know a random thing [ inaudible ]? >> this is really an ambush. you are basically defenseless from the fact it is happening to you at the time. and that is something that is very difficult to guard against when you have a group of officers standing in a large group and you have gunfire directed at them. i would like to point out, however, last night, the only gunfire we had was the actual incident where the officers were struck. >> reporter: you just brought up all of the overtime your officers have been working. and you characterize last night as an ambush. can you talk about the morale of your officers right now. >> i think it's pretty good right now. but i was certainly shaken up about this at midnight when the phone rang. i think that's natural for the officers certainly, to be very cautious about their well-being.

but i have a tremendous amount of confidence in the st. louis police department and the webster grove police department. so they certainly took to me to take it as safe as possible for them. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] looking for weapons in the sewers? >> they could be but i don't know that. i can't answer that question right now. captain, do we have anything to display or is the network out? >> [ inaudible ]. >> i just want to tell you that one of the photos you are going to get is the webster grove's officer was wearing a riot helmet, and the face mask was up, and we have a photo from when he was hit in the face and

the blood splashes up against that face guard. again, i have a lot of confidence in the community. i understand exercising people's first amendment rights but this is beginning at times to be very difficult for any law enforcement agency anywhere to really wrap their arms around. i want everybody to understand how difficult this is to do it the exact perfect way. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> i did. i talked to both of them. i know captain nelson talked to both of them too. the officers --you know both had just been shot. they were with their families. it was fortunate the familiar list could be there. my officer was in a tremendous amount of pain with that wound going in his shoulder and coming out his back. again, those officers are good guys. i'm proud of them and i think i'll give it with that.

county executive stinger. >> i'm here primarily to express our support and deep concern with the officers that were shot. and i'm free to answer any questions you might have. >> reporter: have you been in any discussion at all with mr. noles about the possibility of the county coming in and making over the ferguson police? >> i have had multiple discussions with the mayor over i would say a two-week period, and certainly that subject has been talked about, and i have offered him all of our assistance that we have and as you can see, and as we have heard today, we have certainly stood ready and have performed when asked to step in and help out, and we'll continue to do that in any capacity needed. >> reporter: as the county executive, what is your expectation now of how -- given

what has happened last night? what do you foresee of how law enforcement reacts and conducts themselves? >> i think the way the departments conducted themselves last night was exemplary. they conducted themselves with professionalism in the face of two officers being shot and i trust that that will continue. i have full faith that it will. >> reporter: and going back to [ inaudible ] mayor knolls would you prefer to see st. louis county take over? >> i'm not going to say at this point that i would prefer to see that. i would just like to see a solution as we move forward that is in the best interests of the residents of ferguson and our county, and our police department. >> reporter: will you please walk us through when you found out and your first initial reaction? >> i got a call from the chief and he briefed me on the

incident, and i was immediately moved. i was deeply concerned for the officers' well-being, and we stayed in touch throughout the early morning hours, leading up to our meeting here today. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] spoken to the mayor over the last two weeks. have you spoken to him since the shooting last night? >> i have not. but i intend to speak to him this morning. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] message to [ inaudible ] out there now? what are you going to tell them going forward about this and how they should react? >> i believe the community along with me is deeply concerned for the welfare of the officers, and certainly we would like to see a safe environment where people can express their first amendment rights and situations and incidents like this are extremely unfortunate, and we certainly hope that we can avoid these in the future and i know our police department and all of

the other departments involved are going to see to that. >> reporter: but specifically [ inaudible ]? >> we are dealing with many individuals in our community. and certainly words can certainly help. but these are individual choices that are made. and i believe i and the rest of the community wants to see individuals express their first amendment rights in ways that are non-violent and don't lead to violence and everybody wants to keep cool heads. >> reporter: is there any possibility of [ inaudible ]? >> that has not been discussed at this time. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] hopeful with spring change and get people to start to heal and move forward peacefully, how

much of a set back snaud snaud -- [ inaudible ]? >> i think this is not a setback towards healing, and it deals with two police officers who were shot in the line of their duty. so, you know, to that extent i don't believe that it's going to be effect any healing process that is going on in the community. i think the community at large is fully supportive of these officers, and probably wishes the very best for them. and i think everyone with reasonable minds want to avoid situations like this. >> just a few more for mr. mr. stinger. all right. we appreciate it t it. >> thank you. you have been listening to a news conference by the police chief, and the st. louis executive laying out a time line saying that at 5:30, the

ferguson police chief resigned which was widely publicized. about hours later demonstrators took to the streets. three arrests were made. and then just before midnight he says two of his officers the police chief saying two officers were hit one in the face the other in the shoulder. let's turn to our legal contributor, jamie floyd. jamie ferguson residents for months have been saying they are under siege, now it appears to be the case with the police departments as well. >> yes that's right. and i found very interesting the reference to first amendment rights and the chief of the st. louis pd acknowledging that people have a right to express their opinions about what has gone on in ferguson for months, but that perhaps now it is getting out of hand.

brandenberg, versus ohio one of the most famous first amendment rights cases ever. of not to shout fire in a crowd building, unless of course there is a fire. and the question is whether or not ferguson is indeed on fire? are there issues that need to be addressed ? no one would condone violence. most people in ferguson on both sides of the issues are sympathetic with the officers who were shot. and by the way, not ferguson police officers, from the neighboring counties -- not counties of course because ferguson is part of the larger incorporated county but from the neighboring communities, helping a very small -- people have to understand that ferguson police department is 54 sworn

officers. the entire police department is 72 members, so we're talking about a very small community under siege. and as you point out now del, officers as well as community members feeling under siege. >> jamie also the police chief making several assumptions. one saying the shooter was among the protesters and also saying it is a miracle this hasn't happened before. is it time that law enforcement needs to be brought in from outside? >> yes, he is assuming the shooter was among the protesters. we don't know that that was the case, and even the st. louis police chief acknowledged that they are still looking for the suspects. no one is in custody. so we can't say that they were among -- what has been -- even he described a very peaceful protest. he said that as things got

underway yesterday, he expected there to be no trouble, and was very surprised when he got that call at midnight. for those who may not have been with us earlier, this protest was concurrent with the resignation of the ferguson police chief, right? so that feeds into the larger context of the story. >> it also seemed to rule out the possibility that there might have been an outside agitator that wanted to see tensions flair up and you might have two innocent bodies the police the protesters with an outside agitator that wanted to keep things stirred up. >> i think that's right. but it does raise -- to directly answer your question the prospect that doj may need to come in and as you know eric holder said on friday when

pressed -- he said that they will consider if necessary dismantling this police department. dismantling a police department is not easy. it requires a lot of paperwork to say the least. you have to have contracts between the county city state, and the federal government has to move in. but it has happened all through the country throughout our history that police departments have had to be dismantles for fiscal reasons, corruption and because the department of justice feels they are too corrupt than to just start over. >> protesters are calling for the mayor to resign and they say if he hasn't done it by friday, they are going to demand his resignation. >> let's give you the lime tine. at 5:30 the chief resigns, three

hours later the crowds form. at 8:15 calls for backup. 150 protesters gathering. two hours later two officers shot. [ ♪ music ♪ ] this week on "talk to al jazeera." author, globe trotter and commentator on race and culture, taiye selasi. >> there is a sense that certain people have to explain their presence. to say that racism is not that race isn't felt. >> the london born, twin daughter of african parents raises the question where are you from?