FERGUSON • Federal agents fired at two men in a car that tried to hit them as they attempted to make an arrest in a burglary case Friday afternoon, officials said.
No one was hit in the shooting at a Ferguson apartment complex, but the men in the car had minor injuries from colliding with a law enforcement vehicle, authorities said.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the Park Ridge complex to arrest suspects in the burglary of firearms from a store, according to ATF Special Agent John Ham. One of the men, Brandon M. Foster, 22, was wanted on a charge filed in federal court Friday of being a felon in possession of ammunition, law enforcement sources said.
Agents were looking into the ammunition purchase because they already suspected Foster of involvement in the theft of multiple guns from a pawn shop in Wentzville earlier in the week, the sources said. Authorities found five guns stolen from the gun shop — three in the car and two elsewhere nearby, a source said.
Foster was also being sought on an arrest warrant in St. Louis on a drug charge and a charge of resisting or interfering with a lawful stop. Charging documents in that case claim that on Aug. 4, Foster had heroin and fled from police, speeding, driving on the wrong side of the road, running red lights and almost hitting a pedestrian.
When ATF agents spotted the suspects in a car Friday and identified themselves as law enforcement, the officers’ car was rammed, Ham said. The agents got out and fired multiple times when the suspects drove at them, Ham said.
The suspects had minor injuries from the collision, Ham said. They were taken to a hospital, where family members said they were told the men would be released into law enforcement custody.
The ATF agents were not injured.
A witness, Q’Dayas Spears, 20, said he saw the incident unfold in the parking lot outside one of the apartment buildings. Unmarked cars pulled up from every direction to stop two men in a car, he said. The men’s car lurched forward, jumping a concrete parking space curb, but its path was blocked by another unmarked car, Spears said.
The men’s vehicle struck one of the law enforcement vehicles, Spears said.
An officer got out of a car behind the suspect vehicle and fired four to five shots toward the vehicle, Spears said.
Later, one of the men, Spears said, was handcuffed and on the ground when he appeared to be kicked by a law enforcement officer. Ham denied that.
“Our agents didn’t kick anybody,” Ham said. “That’s an untrue statement.”
Corrections officials said Foster was released on parole from the Missouri prison system on April 29. He had entered the system on Nov. 23, 2011, after he was sentenced to five years in prison for two counts of second-degree assault of a law-enforcement officer; two counts of armed criminal action; resisting arrest; tampering with a motor vehicle; leaving the scene of an accident; and criminal damage to property.
The Park Ridge complex is not far from where protests over the Michael Brown shooting have been centered.
The same apartment complex was the scene of a fatal shooting last week. Robin Poindexter, in his 50s, was shot on Oct. 8. Police were looking for a maroon sedan after that incident.
