2 officers shot in Ferguson during demonstration outside police department

Ferguson, Missouri: Two police officers were shot outside the Ferguson Police Department, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported early Thursday. The shots were fired as police and protesters were gathered outside the station following the resignation of police Chief Thomas Jackson on Wednesday. The crowd had appeared to be dwindling when the shots rang out.

Jackson was the sixth employee to resign or be fired after a Justice Department report cleared white former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson of civil rights charges in the shooting of black 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson last summer. A separate Justice Department report found a profit-driven court system and widespread racial bias in the city police department.

The newspaper reports some protesters fell to the ground and others ran. A huge police presence later surrounded the department. Ferguson Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff told the newspaper that he didn't think either officer was from his department. Eickhoff said he didn't know the extent of the officers' injuries.

Representatives from the St. Louis County Police Department and Ferguson Police Department could not immediately be reached. The Highway Patrol said early Thursday that troopers were headed to the scene but they could not provide any details.