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CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — The man accused of shooting two police officers during a demonstration in Ferguson, Missouri, last week has made a brief court appearance today -- only long enough for the case to be scheduled for a later date.
Court officials said Jeffrey Williams did not yet have an attorney.
He's charged with two counts of first-degree assault and other charges. The two officers were shot early Thursday as a late-night demonstration outside the Ferguson Police Department began to break up. The officers were released from the hospital later that day.
The protest followed the resignation of the Ferguson police chief, in the wake of a Justice Department report that found widespread racial bias in the police department in the city where unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot last year by a white officer.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch says he believes Williams attended the protest before the shooting. But activists say Williams hasn't been a consistent member of their group.
Williams has told investigators that he wasn't targeting police, and that he instead had aimed at someone with whom he was in a dispute.
The prosecutor says authorities aren't sure they "completely buy that part of it."
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040-a-15-(Robert McCullough, prosecuting attorney, St. Louis County, at news conference Sunday)-"in the back"-St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCullough says the man charged with shooting two police officers during a protest outside the Ferguson Police Department Thursday says he wasn't aiming for them. (16 Mar 2015)
<<CUT *040 (03/16/15)££ 00:15 "in the back"
042-a-12-(Robert McCullough, prosecuting attorney, St. Louis County, at news conference Sunday)-"parts of it"-St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCullough says the man they've charged with shooting two police officers outside the Ferguson Police Department may have not been aiming for the officers, so they're looking to the public for more information. (16 Mar 2015)
<<CUT *042 (03/16/15)££ 00:12 "parts of it"
APPHOTO MOJR113: Pro-police demonstrators wave to passing cars as they stand outside the Ferguson Police Department Sunday, March 15, 2015, in Ferguson, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) (15 Mar 2015)
<<APPHOTO MOJR113 (03/15/15)££
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