Source:  Wiki commons / Gotnews.com

By Charleston Johnson, Aug. 21, 2014, Gotnews.com

A debate about police brutality and black urban crime was touched off by the tragic shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. Left unexamined is the history of violence within Ferguson’s black community as well as violence against the police, notably a 2012 killing of a St. Louis County police employee by a Ferguson man as well as numerous assaults on police officers.

GotNews.com examined the past assaults against police officers in Ferguson, MO and the history of violence in the St. Louis suburb relying only on Missouri news reports. The investigation shows that police officers and their lives are often under threat in the small town and might explain the behavior of Officer Wilson.

Various media reports notwithstanding, Ferguson isn’t as peaceful as its small size might suggest. The St. Louis suburb is remarkably violent for its small population (21,203 according to the 2010 census) and size 6.201 square miles.

While it’s technically true that there hasn’t been a murder in Ferguson this year, there were murders of Ferguson residents elsewhere and there was one late last year.

Authorities filed murder charges on Terry L. Simmons, 30, for fatally shooting Quinton Luckett, 28, in the head in the 200 block of South Barat Avenue in Ferguson. Simmons’ rap sheet included convictions for domestic assault and robbery and a pending charge for dealing crack cocaine. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 14, 2013).

And while there were no murders in Ferguson, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

In May, a Ferguson man drew a Tec-9 with an extended magazine holding 30 rounds on St. Louis County officers. An officer shot and killed the Ferguson man.

Also this past May a Ferguson teen shot a 47-year-old man in back after the man refused to buy the teen and his friend beer at a convenience store. Carlos Blue, 17, left his victim for dead and robbed him. He was charged with first-degree assault, first-degree robbery, and two counts of armed criminal action. (“Teen shot man who wouldn’t buy him beer at Pine Lawn store, police say,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 14, 2014)

Many of the killings in Ferguson revolve around the drug trade. In August 2, 2013, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported one such typical instance:

James D. Kinnard, 24, of the 5900 block of Hamilton Terrace, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison in a drug-related 2011 fatal shooting in Ferguson. Kinnard pleaded guilty July 11 to charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the killing of Santauri Dixon, 29, of Ferguson… Police said Kinnard fatally shot Dixon on Oct. 22, 2011, outside an apartment building in the 1300 block of Sharondale Circle. Authorities said Kinnard shot Dixon because he believed Dixon had robbed his drug boss. Kinnard must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 2, 2013).

Other times the killings are identified with no suspect listed. Three days after Kinnard was sentenced police identified “a man found slain in Kinloch as Clement Sonnier, 31, of the 9200 block of Ellison Drive in Ferguson. Sonnier was found shot to death on Gregory Drive near Mable Avenue…” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 5, 2013).

There were many crimes to choose from but these are the ones that are truly heinous.