Hunt for Ferguson shooting suspects

The hunt for suspects in the shooting of two police officers at a protest rally in Ferguson, Missouri, is continuing as community leaders appeal for reconciliation and justice in a town struggling against a legacy of racial tension.

Law enforcement authorities were silent about any progress they may have made in tracking down whoever was responsible for wounding the officers during a volatile demonstration in front of police headquarters.

Police said they rounded up several people on Thursday but released them after questioning.

The vacuum of news on the manhunt kept the focus on efforts to ratchet down tensions that have spiked in the St Louis suburb since the attack early on Thursday morning.

“We can find these criminals who committed this heinous act”, said Benjamin Crump, attorney for the family of Michael Brown, a black teenager killed by a white police officer in August, an event that made Ferguson a national symbol of strained relations between police and blacks.

The shooting took place a week after the release of a report that appeared to vindicate complaints of pervasive racial bias levelled against Ferguson’s mostly white police force.