A protest in Ferguson, Missouri, marking the one-year anniversary of the death of teenager Michael Brown turned violent late Sunday when another police shooting left an 18-year-old in critical condition.
Tyrone Harris, Jr., of St. Louis, was identified by his father as the person injured in the incident. He underwent surgery around
3 a.m. Monday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters that two people, one identified as Harris, were firing shots at one another across West Florissant when officers in an unmarked vehicle drove toward the gunfire. Harris then allegedly opened fire on the officers. After a brief chase, Harris was shot and subdued around 11:10 p.m.,
KTVI-TV reported.
Demonstrators and officers ducked for cover at the time of the shooting. Ferguson's interim police chief, Andre Anderson, was wrapping up an interview with a television station — ironically discussing how officers had been placed throughout the community to protect businesses — when the shots rang out.
Authorities told reporters that officers later recovered a 9mm handgun at the scene, which had reportedly been stolen. The family of Tyrone Harris Jr. told the television station that their son was a friend of Michael Brown's and had just graduated from Normandy High School.
Belmar said that the detectives, who were not wearing body cameras, were placed on administrative leave after the shooting, according to the Post-Dispatch.
"After a year of protest and conversation around police accountability, having plain clothes officers without body cameras and proper identification in the protest setting leaves us with only the officer's account of the incident, which is clearly problematic," said a statement by the coalition Ferguson Action Council.
The coalition is made up of the Don't Shoot Coalition, Hands Up United, Organization for Black Struggle and others, reported the Post-Dispatch.
Before the shooting, police said that three county police officers sustained minor injuries in the protests. Suspects reportedly attacked two officers with pepper spray and a third officer was hit in the face with a rock.
Authorities arrested four people during the protests, county police told KTVI-TV.
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