Police arrested a 20-year-old North St. Louis County resident for shooting and wounding two police officers during a protest outside of the Ferguson Police Department on March 12, officials announced on Sunday, March 15.
Officials said the man claims the shots were fired as part of a personal dispute and were not aimed at police. His attorney, who was not present when questioned by police, later said he recants his confession.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert O. McCulloch said that the alleged shooter, Jeffrey Williams, “acknowledged his participation” in firing the shots but said they were fired during a fight that had “nothing to do with the protest.” The shots were fired from a car, McCulloch said at a press conference held 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the St. Louis County Justice Center.
“We are not 100 percent sure there was a dispute, and that’s part of the claim right now,” McCulloch said.
Attorney Jerryl Christmas, who is representing Williams, said his client has a large amount of bruising across his back and a knot on his head. Christmas claims that police used physical force when they took Williams into custody on Saturday night, and that he was in a lot of pain during the questioning. Christmas said he doubts the validity of the statements Williams gave police.
The St. Louis County Police said claims of beating Williams are “completely false.” However, police did not record the arrest with body-worn cameras during the arrest, according to police officials. They do have video and audio recordings of the entire interrogation, they said. McCulloch’s office said the confessions would not be released until after the case is adjudicated.
McCulloch and St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said that the public, including those present at the protest, cooperated with the investigation and contributed information that led to the arrest.
Police arrested Williams on March 14 at 10:30 p.m. He faces life in prison and is being held at the St. Louis County Justice Center in lieu of a $300,000 cash-only bond. Williams is African-American, 5’11 and 150 lbs., according to police records.
The shots came from part of the way up a steep hill overlooking the station shortly after midnight Wednesday, just a few hours after Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson announced that he planned to resign, effective March 19. Belmar said that officers saw “muzzle flashes” about 125 yards away, and many protestors said the shots came from up the hill, which is on Tiffin Avenue.
One St. Louis County officer and an officer from the Webster Groves Police Department were hit and injured. The 32-year-old Webster Groves officer, a five-year veteran of the force, was struck once in the face. The 41-year-old St. Louis County officer, a 14-year veteran of the force, was struck once in the shoulder. Both officers were released from the hospital the next day.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said Sunday that the officers are “getting better and not getting any worse.”
Much public speculation has been devoted to the fact that someone could be shot in the face from 125 yards away and leave the hospital virtually as an outpatient. McCulloch’s office said that photographs of the officers’ injuries would not be released. Belmar did release photos of a bloody, shattered police helmet.
Williams faces two charges of first-degree assault, one count of firing a weapon from a vehicle with injury, and two counts of armed criminal action. McCulloch said regardless of whether he was intentionally targeting the officers or not, the charge would still be first-degree assault and the sentencing range is the same.
McCulloch said that police found a .40-caliber handgun at Williams’ home through a search warrant and that the shell casings police found at the scene matched the found gun.
On Tuesday, March 31 at 9 a.m., Williams will appear in court before St. Louis County Circuit Judge Joseph S. Dueker, who worked in the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office for 17 years before becoming a county judge in 2010.
Not a protestor
McCulloch also claimed that Williams was a demonstrator and had attended previous demonstrations.
Since the shooting, police officials and McCulloch have pegged Williams as a protestor. However, his social media – a central piece of how people participant in the Ferguson movement – is completely bare of any involvement.
On Williams’ Facebook page, there are no posts about attending any protests. The only post that refers to him going to Ferguson is on September 23, 2014, when he states he heard that there was some looting going on West Florissant Avenue.
“Dam i heard mfs on west florrisant again on tht looting sht again…lhh gotta make my way tht way,” he posted under his Facebook name Jeff Loc Williams.
Most of his Facebook posts are photos of him boasting about being drunk or high. According to his page, he studied at Riverview Gardens High School. However, Riverview Gardens School District officials said he only attended their high school about a month many years ago and also briefly attended their alternative school.
After the press conference, several protesters who regularly attend the demonstrations immediately tweeted that they’ve never seen Williams.
DeRay Mckesson, who witnessed the shooting, tweeted: “No, I cannot recall ever seeing the suspected shooter, Jeffrey Williams, at any protests, including the night in question.”
St. Louis American photojournalist Lawrence Bryant, who has worked almost every protest since August 9, said he noticed Williams “hanging around” at the protest on Wednesday – specifically as a new face he had never seen before.
“I always notice new faces,” Bryant said, “because I wonder what they are there for.”
Christmas told The American that Williams told him he was simply hanging around the protest because there was activity there, not to protest the police.
Belmar walks back comments
In a question-and-answer session with media on March 13, Belmar walked back most of the major claims of fact he made the day before regarding the shootings.
On Thursday, the morning after the shooting, Belmar said he believed the weapon was a handgun aimed by someone associated with the protest held at the Ferguson Police Department on March 11 and aimed specifically at the police officers because they were police officers.
On Friday afternoon, Belmar said he did not know if the shooter was involved in the protest. In fact, he said he could not rule out that protestors were the intended targets, rather than police.
He did say he didn’t “think it was a coincidence” that the police officers were shot near the end of a protest against police misconduct.
It was clear at Thursday night’s candlelight vigil and peaceful protest at Ferguson Police Department that some of Belmar’s thinking about policing the protests also had changed since that morning. Thursday morning Belmar talked about “re-adopting” some (presumably heavy-handed) command tactics, but he did not do so.
A reporter asked about his apparent shift in strategy and whether it was a “calculated risk” for officers to work the Thursday night protest without wearing full riot gear.
“There’s a whole lot of calculated risk in law enforcement,” Belmar said. He also pointed out that riot gear does not make an officer bullet-proof. “Riot equipment is not ballistics equipment,” he said.
Belmar did say he will consider possible sniper attacks when he staffs future protests.
Belmar was asked about the apparent skill level of the shooter, and said, “They might be lucky. It was not a miracle shot. There were many officers standing together.”
Belmar spoke as if keenly aware that the region is on a knife’s edge on issues of community-police relations. He spoke respectfully of the “protest community.” He even corrected his previous statement that the investigation into the shooting was the department’s “No. 1 priority.” Instead, he said the top priority was maintaining the “tempo of service and relationships in the Ferguson area.”
Race has been a primary theme in Ferguson, since the police are mostly white and the diverse protest movement is led by African Americans and stresses the value of “black lives.” Belmar struck a peacemaking tone on race. He opened the Q&A by giving a rundown of political calls of support he had received since the shootings. The list ended with the NAACP.
Belmar admitted he thought they were calling with a list of demands, but instead they only offered support. “It’s a big deal,” Belmar said.
However, Belmar’s peacemaking efforts were undermined on Sunday when McCulloch again tried to assert that Williams was part of the Ferguson movement, providing no evidence for the statement. And only when asked did McCulloch specifically acknowledge that the protestors were helpful in the investigation.
Willie Clay, 60, from nearby Northwoods, was in Ferguson capturing footage of the crime scene on Thursday.
“The police were only doing their job,” Clay said. “The troublemakers infiltrate the protesters that are honestly protesting. The other people come in just to stir the pot and contribute to trouble. Those situations shouldn’t be tolerated.”
– Chris King and Huffington Post Ferguson Fellow Mariah Stewart contributed to this report.
