Man shot, critically injured in Ferguson

1FERGUSON, Mo.
2(AP) -- A suspect who authorities say opened fire on officers in Ferguson, Missouri, on the anniversary of Michael Brown's death was critically wounded when the officers shot back, St. Louis County's police chief said Monday.
3But the father of the suspect, 18-year-old Tyrone Harris Jr., called the police version of events "a bunch of lies."
4He said two girls who were with his son told him he was unarmed and had been drawn into a dispute involving two groups of young people.
5St. Louis County prosecutors on Monday announced 10 charges against Harris - five counts of armed criminal action, four counts of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and a firearms charge.
6All 10 are felonies.
7It was not immediately clear if the latest police shooting of a black suspect would spur renewed unrest in Ferguson, the site of many protests - some violent - in the aftermath of Brown's death on Aug. 9, 2014.
8St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger issued a state of emergency, a move that authorizes county Police Chief Jon Belmar to take control of police emergency management in and around Ferguson.
9Elsewhere, about 50 protesters were in custody after being arrested while blocking the entrance to a federal courthouse in downtown St. Louis, where they demanded federal action to stop what they consider racially abusive policing.
10Those in custody included scholar and civil rights activist Cornel West.
11Belmar said at a news conference that officers had been tracking the suspect, who they believed was armed, during a protest marking the death of Brown, the black, unarmed 18-year-old whose killing by a white Ferguson police officer touched off the national "Black Lives Matter" movement.
12At the height of what was already a rowdy protest in which rocks and bottles were thrown at officers, gunshots rang out from the area near a strip of stores, including some that had been looted.
13Belmar believes the shots came from about six different shooters.
14It was not clear what prompted the exchange, but Belmar said the groups had been feuding.
15At one point, the suspect crossed the street and apparently spotted the plainclothes officers arriving in an unmarked van with distinctive red and blue police lights, Belmar said.
16He said the suspect shot into the hood and windshield.
17The officers fired back at him from inside the vehicle and then pursued him on foot when he ran.
18The suspect fired on officers again after he became trapped in a fenced-in area, the chief said, and all four officers fired back.
19He was struck and fell and was taken to a hospital, where Belmar said he was in "critical, unstable" condition.
20Tyrone Harris Sr. told The Associated Press his son was a close friend of Michael Brown and was in Ferguson Sunday night to pay respects.
21Harris said his son got caught up in a dispute among two groups of young people and was "running for his life" after gunfire broke out.
22He said the girls who were with his son said he had no weapons.
23"My son was running to the police to ask for help, and he was shot," he said.
24"It's all a bunch of lies ... They're making my son look like a criminal."
25The younger Harris does not have a listed attorney.
26The suspect had a semi-automatic 9 mm gun that was stolen last year from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Belmar said.
27None of the officers was seriously injured.
28All four have been put on administrative leave, which is standard procedure.
29They were not wearing body cameras, Belmar said.
30The shooting happened around 11:15 p.m. Sunday, sending protesters and reporters running for cover.
31Belmar waved off any notion that the people with the weapons were part of the protest.
32"They were criminals. They weren't protesters," he said.
33Some protest groups were critical of police.
34"It was a poor decision to use plainclothes officers in a protest setting because it made it difficult for people to identify police officers, which is essential to the safety of community members," Kayla Reed, a field organizer with the Organization of Black Struggle, said in a statement.
35"After a year of protest and conversation around police accountability, having plainclothes officers without body cameras and proper identification in the protest setting leaves us with only the officer's account of the incident, which is clearly problematic."
36Early Monday, another reported shooting drew officers to an apartment building in the area.
37Two males told police they were targeted in a drive-by shooting near the memorial to Brown outside Canfield Apartments.
38A 17-year-old was shot in the chest and shoulder, and a 19-year-old was shot in the chest, but their injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
39Separately, police said a 17-year-old suspect has been charged with unlawful use of a weapon and one count of resisting arrest after he fired shots near the protesters late Sunday.
40He is being held on $100,000 bond.
41The anniversary of Brown's killing, which cast greater scrutiny on how police interact with black communities, has sparked days of renewed protests, though until Sunday they had been peaceful and without any arrests.
42Before the gunfire, protesters were blocking traffic and confronting police.
43One person threw a glass bottle at officers but missed.
44For the first time in three consecutive nights of demonstrations, some officers were dressed in riot gear, including bulletproof vests and helmets with shields.
45Police used smoke to disperse a crowd that lingered on West Florissant, Belmar said.
46One officer was treated for cuts after a rock was thrown at his face, and two officers were pepper-sprayed by protesters, county police said.
47Five people were arrested.
48St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Paul Hampel was beaten and robbed by attackers while covering the unrest.
49Protesters yell as police form a line across West Florissant Ave., Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo., before shots were fired near the protest.
50Ferguson Interim Police Chief Andre Anderson, right, tries to calm the crowd after a shooting near a protest in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 10, 2015.
51St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar at a news conference in Clayton, Mo., on Aug. 10, 2015.
52Police in Ferguson, Mo., stand near a suspect in a parking lot after gunfire during a protest on the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, on Aug. 9, 2015.