Two police officers shot in Ferguson

UPDATE (8:32 a.m. EDT): A shooting outside the Ferguson Police Department early today left two officers seriously wounded. Shots rang out shortly after midnight as protesters gathered after the resignation of the city’s police chief, which followed a scathing Justice Department report alleging racial bias in the police department and court.

A 32-year-old officer from nearby Webster Groves was shot in the face, and a 41-year-old officer from St. Louis County was shot in the shoulder, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference. Both were taken to a hospital, where Belmar said they were conscious. He said he did not have further details about their conditions but described their injuries as serious.

“I don’t know who did the shooting, to be honest with you,” Belmar said, adding that he could not provide a description of the suspect or gun.

He said he assumed, based on where the officers were standing and the trajectory of the bullets, that “these shots were directed exactly at my officers.”

OUR EARLIER REPORT (March 11, 5:20 p.m.): Thomas Jackson, the police chief in Ferguson Mo., has resigned, according to a statement released by city officials this afternoon. The resignation comes in the wake of last week’s U.S. Justice Department report prompted by the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson last August.

The report cleared Wilson of civil rights charges in the shooting but found widespread racial bias in the Ferguson Police Department and a profit-driven court system.

Jackson previously resisted calls to resign by protesters and some of Missouri’s top elected officials for the way he handled the shooting and the protests that followed. He will receive a severance payment and health insurance for a year. Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff will become acting chief on March 19 as the city begins its search for a new top man for the police department.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.