Two cops shot during a protest in Ferguson. Yahoo/AP

Police on the scene reacting to the attack. Yahoo/AP.

Two police officers were shot during a protest at the Ferguson police station after the chief resigned. Yahoo/AP. One officer was shot in the face while the other was shot in the shoulder. Both are in serious condition. Both officers worked for St. Louis county and not the Ferguson police department. The attack happened shortly after midnight as protesters were expressing their objection to the resignation of the police chief, Thomas Jackson, who was criticized for his response for the Michael Brown shooting. Jackson was not the only official that has resigned or been fired for the Brown shooting as 5 other employees left after the Justice Department released a report indicating corruption and bias in the department. The protesters were upset that Jackson will receive a salary and health benefits for a year after he is gone. 

My Comment:

Much like the attack in New York, I am sure that this is another "revenge" attack. That attack was due to a man getting swept up in the Michael Brown and Eric Gardner hysteria that swept the nation last year. It looks like it is happening again. Whatever complaints these protesters had and no matter how bad the Ferguson police department was or is, nothing justifies attempted murder.

 Some will object to me blaming all the protesters when this was almost certainly the result of a single deranged person. To those people I say that none of this would have happened if the Michael Brown shooting had not gone viral. Had people waited for any kind of investigation they would have known that the  "hands up don't shoot" meme was nothing but propaganda and slander. Even the Justice Department report, which was incredibly critical of the Ferguson police department, cleared Darren Wilson. But the truth got swallowed up by thousands of tweets, tumbles and shares. 

Whatever the sins of the Ferguson police department, and there were many, especially with their response to the shooting, killing innocent people was not one of them. Michael Brown was not an innocent victim. He was a criminal who attacked a cop. But so many people never heard the facts of this case or heard them after their minds were made up. This created conditions where a few deranged people were able to justify an attack on these officers. The question now becomes how many times will this happen again? 

Of course, even if Darren Wilson was a cold blooded murder and Michael Brown was really the gentle giant everyone on Twitter and Tumblr said he was, this still wouldn't be justified. Revenge is never justified, even for murder, let alone for accusations of corruption and racism. 

As for the Justice Department report, I'd advise caution. Any department headed by Eric Holder is going to find racism wherever it looks. That doesn't mean that there was no racism in the Ferguson police department, but it does call into question any accusation from the Justice Department. I'd like a third party to investigate, but that probably isn't going to happen... The accusations of corruption and profit based policing are a bit more concerning to me though. That, combined with the way Ferguson was handled in the days after the shooting says to me that Thomas Jackson should probably be shown the door. Still, nothing justifies a shooting.