In a press conference Sunday afternoon, St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch 20-year-old named Jeffrey Williams as the suspect in the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson last week, and identified him as one of the protesters who had been demonstrating before the Ferguson Police Department.
The Ferguson protest community tweeted immediately afterward that they had never seen Williams among the protesters, suggesting he was not a regular part of the routine demonstrations. There has been question as to whether outside agitators have been responsible for the much of the violence surrounding the protests:
No, I cannot recall ever seeing the suspected shooter, Jeffrey Williams, at any protests, including the night in question.
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 15, 2015
Has any of my protest family seen this guy at any of demonstrations cuz I haven't #FergusonShooting pic.twitter.com/Col2L8cLgu
— Sass-N-Class (@christy_shantel) March 15, 2015
@goldietaylor Apparently nobody from Deray & Shorty to any others has ever seen this dude.
— Torraine Walker (@TorraineWalker) March 15, 2015
Again, Bishop Robinson– who knew Williams prior and is himself a protester– said Williams was never a protester.
— Goldie Taylor © (@goldietaylor) March 15, 2015
Reporters who have covered the protests since they broke out last fall also said they had not seen Williams numbered among the protesters:
Asked 4 protest regulars if they've ever seen/met Jeffrey Williams. Their text responses:
"No"
"Hell no"
"Nope. No"
"Never"
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) March 15, 2015
That's not to say he's never protested in Ferguson – literally hundreds maybe thousands have – but safe to say he's not a regular.
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) March 15, 2015
Fwiw: as someone who has spent a lot of hours at Ferguson protests, I've never seen that guy. But, I've been out of town for awhile
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) March 15, 2015
Judging from what I and other reporters remember, and some prominent activists, this guy was no mainstay, if he had ever protested at all.
— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) March 15, 2015
But protest is not exactly something you need a membership card to join, especially when things get big, so it's hard to know.
— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) March 15, 2015
[Image via screengrab]
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