After months of rioting interrupted only by the extreme cold weather that Winter brought, Ferguson, Missouri is once again quite as officials investigate Thursday’s shooting of two police officers outside the city’s police station.
The shooting of the two officers was preceded by hours of new protesting stirred by the announcement late on Wednesday night of the resignation of Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson.
Almost immediately after the evening announcement, protesters began to gather outside the Ferguson police department. The protests continued overnight and by early Thursday morning two factions of protests became clear, one more peaceful that the other.
Unfortunately, also early on Thursday morning ,shots rang out and two officers were wounded, one seriously.
Even as many feel that President Obama and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, have stoked the flames of anti-cop sentiment in Ferguson and across the country, the city itself has fallen into an uneasy clam after the shooting of the officers.
Some locals are weary of the constant upheaval of protests.
“It’s been emotional here. We all want justice for Mike Brown, but we also have to heal,” said 26-year-old Ferguson resident Jerome Parker. “I support the protests, but I need to make a living,” he continued.
Regardless, others still want the unrest and agitation to continue. A group is demanding the resignation of Mayor James Knowles claiming he failed to “adequately rein in an out-of-control police department” previous and subsequent to the shooting of teenager Michael Brown in August of last year.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com