Police officers in St Louis were forced to retreat, after they were overwhelmed during a confrontation with an angry group of protesters. According to multiple online reports, members of the St Louis police turned their backs and ran when gunshots rang out last night, MTO News learned.
MTO News has confirmed that four police officers were shot in downtown St. Louis amid ongoing violent protests Monday night. Luckily none was killed.
The shooting incident happened near St. Louis police headquarters, where a group of protesters and police had been clashing repeatedly throughout the night.
St Louis Police Chief John Hayden told the media, “They were standing near a line and all of a sudden they felt pain. They were just standing there. So some coward fired shots at officers and now we have four in the hospital… and thank God they’re alive.”
“Can we make some sense out of this? … This is horrible,” the chief said with tears in his eyes.
Hayden said the officers had been engaged with a group of about 200 agitators throughout the night who were throwing rocks, breaking into businesses, stealing, shooting fireworks at officers and dumping gasoline on them.
When the shots rang out, multiple social media reports say that he officers turned and fled, before grouping. One Tweeter claiming to have witnessed the shooting said police were “running for their lives.”