St. Louis County police have arrested 20-year old Jeffery Williams in the shooting of two Ferguson Missouri policeman just after midnight this past Thursday morning. County prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced the arrest, adding that Williams was being held on $300,000 cash bond.
McCulloch also acknowledged the defendant was one of the demonstrators in front of the police building earlier that day and on other occasions.
According to the prosecutor, Jeffrey Williams admitted firing the shots, but claims he wasn't aiming at the policemen, reports the NY Times:
He said that Mr. Williams, who is from north St. Louis County, was inside a car “at least for some of the shots.”
The weapon used was a .40 caliber handgun, Mr. McCulloch said, and the authorities have recovered it.
“It was possible he was firing shots at someone other than the police, but struck the police officers,” Mr. McCulloch said.
Mr. Williams was in custody, Mr. McCulloch said. He stressed that the investigation was continuing and that additional arrests may be made. The suspect was found through information provided by community members.
When asked by a reporter if the defendant came from the ranks of the protesters outside the Ferguson police department, McCulloch responded:
"Yes. He is a demonstrator, he was out there earlier that evening as part of the demonstration, he's been out there on other occasions as part of the demonstrations."
According to the NY Times report, as soon as McCulloch made his announcement, "several protest leaders quickly took to Twitter to say that Mr. Williams, who is African-American, was not one of them."
The prosecutor "stressed that the investigation was continuing and that additional arrests may be made."
Mr. McCulloch said that Mr. Williams indicated that he had a dispute with some people who were in front of the police headquarters, “which had nothing to do with the demonstrations that were going on.” Mr. Williams indicated that he was firing at the people he had the dispute with, the prosecutor said.
He added that it doesn't matter who Williams' target was, the charges would be the same.