Apparently Williams, who was not a protester, was shooting at someone in the crowd of protesters, not police. That no one in the crowd of protesters was shot seems even incredible given their closer proximity to the shooter, but the wounded police could simply have been collateral damage. This certainly would be a better legal defense than one claiming he did target police officers, and learning more details will speak to doubt or certainty about motive - position of vehicle, wildness of shooting, etc.
We know from the original Michael Brown shooting that the St Louis County investigation process as well as the prosecution has a credibility problem and only further evidentiary information and investigation will clear remaining doubts.
Even during the original demonstrations it could be observed that unrelated shootings among unrelated groups and individuals happened concurrently and relatively close to Ferguson-specific events, in some cases being confused with the events in Ferguson.
A 20-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a shooting outside the headquarters of the Ferguson police department that injured two officers, St. Louis County police and prosecutors said today.
Jeffery Williams was arrested Saturday night and charged with two counts of first-degree assault, one count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal action, said St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch. Williams was being held on $300,000 cash bond.
The two officers were injured early Thursday during heated protests outside the the police department after the resignation of the city’s police chief, Tom Jackson, who stepped down in the wake of a Justice Department report that documented widespread racial bias in the city, biases that have gained national attention since the August police shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown.
(He) Prosecutor McCulloch said Williams admitted firing the shots and indicated they were not aimed at police. Some of the statements are supported by physical evidence, and some aren't, he said.
"I wouldn't say he wasn't targeting police," McCulloch said. "I'm saying right now the evidence we have supports filing the charge that he may have been shooting at someone other than police and struck the police."
He said it might turn out that police were the targets, but either way the same charges would apply.
Williams, who McCulloch said lives "not far from Ferguson," was on probation for receiving stolen property in St. Louis County and was wanted for failing to report to his probation officer, the prosecutor said.
McCulloch said police used a search warrant to recover a .40-caliber handgun that matched spent cartridges recovered in the area from which the shots came...
Three shots were heard and believed to have been fired from about 125 yards away, northwest along Tiffin Avenue.