Police Arrested Jeffrey Williams, the 20 Year Old Man Accused of Shooting Two Cops

On Sunday, county officials announced that a 20 year old man was arrested in the shooting that injured two St. Louis County police officers.

The suspect, Jeffrey Williams, was taken into custody on Saturday night. He is accused of assault in the first degree, armed criminal action and also firing a weapon from a vehicle, as Robert McCulloch, Prosecuting Attorney for the St. Louis County, has stated during a press conference.

McCulloch said that Jeffrey Williams took part in the evening`s demonstration and that the suspect claims he had a strife with someone. Williams also pretends that he shot at them and accidentally harmed the two police officers, even if he aimed at the people he had a conflict with.

Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch says the police does not „completely buy that part” of Williams` statement. McCulloch added that there are suspicions according to which other people might have been in the car from where Williams fired his gun.

Some activists that have been participating in the protests since the shooting that killed 18 year old Michael Brown, fired by a Ferguson cop, stated that Williams was not a familiar figure.

And they were not the only ones to say this about the suspect. One of the Millennial Activists United group, a 26 year old woman named Brittany Ferrell, upholds that neither her nor other leaders knew who Williams was. On Sunday, when news of the arrest started to spread, she was leaving a meeting with other leaders of the Millennial Activists United. Ferrell says she spoke to some of the protesters who demonstrated frequently and the answer was the same – no one was familiar with Jeffrey Ferguson.

Brittany Ferrell claims that Robert McCulloch tries to identify Williams as a protester in order to make a negative impression on the movement.

“This is a fear tactic. We are very tight-knit. We know each other by face if not by name, and we’ve never seen this person before.”

Brittany Ferrell concluded.

John Gaskin also claims that he has never seen Williams and has no idea who the suspect is. Gaskin is a St. Louis leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

But the investigation is not finished. McCulloch said that the police has not yet clarified if what Williams stated about his intention – that he did not want to wound the police officers – is true or not. Anyway, we don`t see how this is relevant at all.

Prosecuting Attorney McCulloch also added that the police obtained a warrant to investigate Jeffrey William`s house, based on the information the public offered. He said that they found a .40-caliber handgun which corresponds to the shell casings that were found at the scene of the crime.

Jeffrey Williams is held by the police on a 300,000 dollars bail. He was on probation for stolen property receiving and he didn`t report to his parole officer in the last seven months, Robert McCulloch added.

The suspect should appear before the St. Louis County court in Clayton on Monday morning. Brian Schellman, spokesman for the St. Louis County police, stated that he didn`t have any idea whether Williams would be represented by an attorney or when he would appear before the court.

McCulloch called upon anyone who had any information on the matter or who had been at the scene of the crime to report to the police or to contact the local law enforcement in order to help them with information. He added that the public played a major role in catching Jeffrey Williams and that that he expected that people would continue to cooperate with the authorities if they had any new information on this case.

A 41 year old police officer from St. Louis and 32 year old Webster Groves police officer were the victims of Thursday`s shooting, as the protests seemed to come to an end with the resignation of Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson.

Both victims were released from hospital on Thursday, even if, according to St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, both police officers could have died. Belmar regarded the attack as an ambush. The police officer for St. Louis County was shot in the right shoulder. The bullet penetrated through his body and passed through his back. The other bullet met the Webster Groves police officer`s right cheek.

It is thought that the shots came from across the police department and that they were fired with a handgun. Furthermore, the shots are believed to have been fired from a 120 yards distance. Belmar says the man responsible for the shooting should not have been a very accurate gunman. There was a line of nearly 20 police officers who were standing ahead of the edifice.

Image Source: CCTV-America