Bullet Lodged Below Ear of Cop Shot in Ferguson

He and other officer are out of hospital as Holder condemns 'damn punk' shooter
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 12, 2015 5:45 PM CDT
Bullet Lodged Below Ear of Cop Shot in Ferguson
A police officer walks toward the Ferguson Police Department Thursday.   (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

He's out of the hospital and expected to be OK, but one of the two police officers shot last night in Ferguson still has a bullet lodged behind his ear. The 32-year-old got shot below his right eye, and the bullet ended up just below his right ear, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The other officer, 41, got hit in the right shoulder, and the bullet exited out his back. He's out of the hospital, too. Police haven't made any arrests in the shootings, but they took three people in for questioning this morning. "We're lucky by God's grace that we didn't lose those two officers last night," said St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar. "We could have buried two police officers next week because of this."

Belmar called the attack an "ambush," and Eric Holder used the same word along with some stronger ones, reports CBS News. “This was not someone trying to bring healing to Ferguson," the attorney general said today. "This was a damn punk, a punk, who was trying to sow discord.” Protests are expected to resume tonight, and the Missouri Highway Patrol and St. Louis County Police will take the reins from the Ferguson department, whose chief resigned yesterday. Police think the bullets came from a pistol fired from across the street from the department. In amateur video, two shots are heard, followed by a man screaming in pain, reports AP. The voice of an unidentified person is heard saying, "Acknowledgement nine months ago would have kept that from happening." (More Ferguson, Missouri stories.)

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