Two Officers Shot Outside Ferguson Police Department During Protest

Two police officers were shot during protests in front of the Ferguson Police Department in Missouri early Thursday morning after the U.S. Justice Department released a report noting racial bias in the city's police department and court system.

People had gathered in front of the police department late Wednesday and early Thursday just as Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson announced his resignation after the Justice Department released a scathing report that accused the local police department and court system of racial bias.

The shooting reportedly took place shortly after midnight, when St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told the Associated Press that the protests appeared to be winding down. Two officers, one 32-year-old from Webster Groves and one 41-year-old from St. Louis County, were shot in the face and the shoulder in what Belmar described as an "ambush."

Although the officers' wounds were described as "serious" by the local hospital where they were treated, they're expected to survive the attack.

"Fortunately, with both officers, we don't have any remarkable long-term injuries," Belmar said. "We're lucky."

The Justice Department released a statement Thursday condemning the attack on the officers, with Attorney General Eric Holder saying his department will help with the investigation into the shootings in any way they can.

"This heinous assault on two brave law enforcement officers was inexcusable and repugnant," Holder said, adding: "Such senseless acts of violence threaten the very reforms that nonviolent protesters in Ferguson and around the country have been working towards for the past several months."