State Trooper Slams "Violent Agitators" in Missouri

The Missouri state trooper in charge of directing the law enforcement response to protests that have rocked a St. Louis suburb slammed "violent agitators" who he said were using largely peaceful protests as "cover" to commit criminal acts. 

Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson told reporters in Ferguson early Tuesday that 31 people had been arrested during a night of unrest that followed a day of largely peaceful protest. As Johnson spoke, two handguns and a Molotov cocktail that he said had been confiscated during the night by authorities lay on a table in front of him. 

The majority-black town of approximately 21,000 has been roiled by unrest since the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was fatally shot by a white police officer following a confrontation of some kind on the afternoon of August 9. Local authorities have fired tear gas and smoke canisters on an almost daily basis at protesters upset with the response to the shootings by Ferguson Police.

A visibly angry Johnson said that officers had come under heavy gunfire from protesters and at least two people had been shot. Johnson said he did not know the condition of the shooting victims. Four officers had been injured when they were struck by rocks or bottles, though Johnson claimed that police had not fired a single shot.  

Citing what he called a "dangerous dynamic in the night," Johnson requested that protests take place during the daylight hours, so that officers could effectively isolate any troublemakers. However, Johnson said that his forces could not make protesters leave the streets after sunset if they did not want to. 

"This nation is watching each and every one of us," said Johnson. "I am not going to let the criminals that have come here from across this country, or live in this neighborhood, define this community." Johnson added that some of those who had been arrested overnight had come from as far afield as New York and California. The trooper also directed his wrath at the assembled media, saying that they had put themselves and officers in danger by failing to clear areas when asked before imploring them to "not glamorize the acts of criminals."

"We do not want to lose another life in this community," Johnson added.

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