Police officer shot in Ferguson

FERGUSON, Mo. — Authorities were searching Sunday for two men suspected of shooting and wounding a police officer in Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb where there have been angry protests since a white officer fatally shot an unarmed 18-year-old black man last month.

Although there were two separate protests about the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown happening around the time the officer was shot Saturday night, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said he didn’t think they were related in any way to the attack on the officer.

The men fled when the officer approached them at around 9 p.m. because the community center they were standing outside of was closed, Belmar said at a news conference early Sunday. When the officer gave chase, one of the men turned and shot him in the arm, he said.

Belmar said the officer is expected to survive, but he didn’t identify the officer or give further details about his condition. He said the officer returned fire, but that police have no indication that either suspect was shot.

The shooting comes amid simmering tension between many community members and the police in Ferguson, where two-thirds of residents are black, but only three of the city’s 53 officers are African-American.