Police Officer Shot In Ferguson, Mo., As Protests Continue

A Ferguson, Mo., police officer was shot while on patrol Saturday evening, according to St. Louis police amid continuing protests over the August police shooting of an unarmed black teenager.

The officer was shot in the arm at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday and was taken to an area hospital. Police say the officer, a woman, and is expected to recover.

They say the suspect fled on foot and is still being pursued.

Update At 2:42 a.m. ET:

The officer was responding to a burglary, chasing two suspects outside the Ferguson Community Center when one of them turned and shot her in the arm, Reuters reports.

The shooting did not appear to be connected to the peaceful protests going on elsewhere in Ferguson, according to St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar.

"I wouldn't have any reason to believe right now that it was linked in any way, shape, manner or form with the protests," he said at a press conference.

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"Police set up a staging area near West Florissant and Stein," reports CBS News, "close to the area where protests took place last month after the shooting death of Mike Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old by Ferguson policeman Darren Wilson."

Protests have continued in Ferguson in the weeks since the shooting, and clashes erupted again Thursday after Police Chief Thomas Jackson released a video apologizing to Brown's family.

In the video, Jackson said he was sorry for the death of their son, and that his body lay in the street for hours after he was killed. The shooting unleashed days of unrest in the community. According to the New York Times, Saturday's shooting

"occurred in the 1000 block of Smith Avenue in Ferguson, near the new Ferguson Community Center, according to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"Dozens of police cars from numerous jurisdictions converged on the area after the shooting, the newspaper said, and the gunman was reported to have fled into nearby woods."