US

Holder: ‘Damn Punks’ Are Responsible For Shooting Police In Ferguson [VIDEO]

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
Font Size:

Attorney General Eric Holder said that “damn punks” were responsible for the shooting of two police officers monitoring a protest rally in Ferguson Thursday morning.

A 41-year-old St. Louis County Police officer was shot in the shoulder, and a 32-year-old officer with the Webster Groves Police Department sustained a bullet wound near the ear while patrolling a crowd in front of the Ferguson police department.

Both officers are expected to survive, but a massive manhunt is underway for the shooter.

“What happened last night was a pure ambush,” Holder said at a press conference Thursday.

“This was not someone trying to bring healing to Ferguson. This was a damn punk. Punk who trying to sow discord in an area that is trying to get its act together and trying bring together a community that has been fractured for too long.”

The shooting occurred several hours after protesters gathered Wednesday evening. The demonstrations began after Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson’s announcement earlier in the day that he will be stepping down next week.

It is unclear where the shooter or shooters of the police officers were located prior to opening fire. St. Louis County police chief Jon Belmar said they were hidden within the crowd of protesters. Community activists disputed that claim.

The police department has come under intense scrutiny following the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer. That case sparked a Department of Justice pattern and practice investigation.

While the DOJ cleared Wilson of violating Brown’s civil rights in the August shooting, the agency released a report last week slamming the city for a pattern of racial bias against black residents. The agency found that Ferguson police officers issued a disproportionate number of citations to black residents.

Besides Jackson’s departure, Ferguson’s city manager resigned earlier this week. Three other city officials also stepped down. Protesters who gathered Wednesday sought more. Many wanted mayor James Knowles to resign as well.

“Seeing this attack last night really kind of turned my stomach because in the last week since the Justice Department released its pattern and practice report on Ferguson I thought we’d begun to see really important signs of progress,” Holder said Thursday.

He also speculated on the shooters’ motive.

“This really disgusting and cowardly attack might have been intended to unravel any sense of progress, but I hope that that does not in fact happen.”

WATCH:

Follow Chuck on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel