FERGUSON, Mo. (KMOX) - Police in Ferguson say they can't confirm the claim made by U.S. Rep. Cori Bush that she and other protesters were shot at by white supremacists hiding behind a hill following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown Jr. in 2014.
The first-year congresswoman tweeted on Monday that "When we marched in Ferguson, white supremacists would hide behind a hill near where Michael Brown Jr. was murdered and shoot at us," as commentary about the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. The tweet was met with many believing she fabricated the story.
Ferguson Police Chief Frank McCall Jr. was asked about the claim and he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he wasn't aware of any incident like that on record.
“None that I’m aware of,” he told the Post-Dispatch. He was named chief in July, but has been with the department since 2016.
Former Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told our partner station 97.1 FM Talk that Bush's tweet is "just absurd." He led the department for five years, including during the Brown shooting, then resigned in March of 2015.
"Its frightening that people are going to believe that stuff," says Jackson. "Now we have, all of a sudden, white supremacists hiding behind hills, shooting at protestors? Not hitting them, of course, but shooting at them. That's just absurd, it didn't happen. It's a lie, it's just a bunch of lies, her saying she was brutalized by the police during the Ferguson riots. It just didn't happen."
Related
The congresswoman's office put out a statement saying in support of Bush's claim:
“While on the frontlines of the Ferguson Uprising, Congresswoman Bush and other activists were shot at by white supremacist vigilantes. The question we need to ask is why white supremacists feel empowered to open-carry rifles, incite violence, and put Black lives at risk across our country."
Bush rose to prominence in St. Louis during the aftermath of Brown's death as a leading activist against racial injustice.
Another leading activist in St. Louis, Ohun Ashe, confirmed Bush's story on Twitter, saying "This is FACTS! I vividly remember hiding under porches in Canfield as shots were fired at us,” she wrote, referring to Canfield Apartments, near where Brown was killed. “No one came to help us. Ferguson police would be nearby. We would come from under porches using cars as shields in between gun shots to make it out.”
One shooting that police confirmed did happen during the protest in Ferguson was when two police officers were shot outside police headquarters. Some protesters said the shots appeared to have been fired "from a hill behind a dwindling group of demonstrators," according to The Guardian.
Jeffrey Williams, 22, was found guilty of the shooting and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Related
© 2021 KMOX (Audacy). All rights reserved
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Follow KMOX
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram