PS They burned a New 7-11 to the ground after looting it.

The black dead officer was shot outside a pawn shop on Martin Luther King Drive..

By Edmund DeMarche, David Aaro | Fox News

Authorities in St. Louis said early Tuesday that four police officers were shot during protests in the city’s downtown area and officers continue to be under fire.

St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden told reporters that two officers were shot in the leg and one was shot in the foot. The other was shot in the arm. Hayden said they were hit by gunfire while standing on the side of a police line amid protests in the city.

"As we speak we're trying to get control out of this city, still hearing gunfire and everything. I don't know what else to say. This is horrible," he said. "Thank God, they're alive."

Hayden added that he believes "some coward randomly shot at the police line."

Besides the shooting in St. Louis, there were reports of police being shot in Richmond Va. and Las Vegas. Their conditions were not immediately clear.

St. Louis, MO Police
@SLMPD

·
8h
Chief Hayden provides an update on 4 of our officers who were struck by gunfire tonight during the downtown unrest.
https://twitter.com/SLMPD
Vid on above link

St. Louis, MO Police
@SLMPD
·
9h
We have had 4 officers struck by gunfire tonight. All have been transported to an area hospital. All are conscious and breathing. Their injuries are believed to be non-life threatening.

Officers are still taking gunfire downtown & we will share more info as it available.

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ometime later, Hayden said a group of 200 or so had no intention of protesting when they started throwing rocks and fireworks at officers.

Hayden said the rioters were hyping up the crowd and high fiving each other. He said they started throwing things at officers and then looting all over downtown.

“Officers exhibited extraordinary restraint,” Hayden said.

He added that officers only took measures to combat the crowd after things became violent outside of police headquarters. Police in riot gear threw tear gas at the crowd and started moving in lines to break up the rioters, according to St. Louis' KSDK.

"We had to protect our headquarters building, they were throwing fireworks on officers, fireworks were exploding on officers, they had officers that had gas poured on them....Mr. [George] Floyd was killed somewhere else and they're tearing up cities all across the country," Hayden said.