Hazelwood Police Involved in Gunshot Exchange

A 28-year-old Ferguson man was shot and critically wounded Thursday night after exchanging gunfire with a Hazelwood police officer.

The man, Carlos A. Johnson, was officially charged in the case Friday morning. Johnson, of the 200 block of Royce Drive, was charged in St. Louis County with first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer, armed criminal action and resisting arrest.

The policeman involved in the incident is identified in court documents as Officer Jason Perkins, according to a St. Louis Post Dispatch report. He was not injured.

A judge gave Johnson a $200,000, cash only bail.

Hazelwood Police Lt. Ronald Livingston said the shooting happened at about 11 p.m. Thursday. According to police, Perkins, who is a patrolman, heard gunshots near the area of Woodhurst Drive and Sagewood Lane and went to investigate.

Perkins saw someone running from the area and tried to stop the man, according to police. The charges filed in St. Louis County state the man, Johnson, pulled a gun and fired three shots at the officer near the 8300 block of Sagewood Lane.

Perkins returned gunfire before the suspect ran off, according to the documents, and chased Johnson eventually catching up with him. 

The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that according to police, when Perkins caught up with Johnson, he was bleeding from gunshot wounds. It also quotes Livingston as being "pretty confident it was the officer's rounds" that hit the suspect.

According to KOMX, Perkins was put on paid leave. Paid leave is routine procedure when an officer has to fire their gun.

Connection to a Berkeley Shooting

Police believe the shots Perkins initially heard as he patrolled may have stemmed from an incident a couple blocks over in Berkeley where someone was shot on St. Olaf Drive, according to a KTVI-FOX2 News report.

The Post Dispatch describes Johnson as a felon and repeat offender who has been in-and-out of the prison system since 2001.