Two officers were shot early March 12 in what St. Louis County police chief Jon Belmar described as an “ambush.”

One officer, was shot in the face just below his right eye and the bullet was logged behind his ear. The other in the shoulder, the bullet exiting through his back. Both injuries are described as serious but not life threatening.

The shooting happened at a late night demonstration after Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson resigned. Belmar said the protest was diminishing around midnight, and some police officers were going home; 69 officers had responded, and around midnight there were about 40 left. Shots rang out at a 20 to 25 man line of police officers.

“They were shot because they were police officers,” Belmar said. “We’re lucky by gods grace that we didn’t lose two officers last night.”

The shots came from a gunman that police have yet to identify. The shots were fired from up to 120 yards away, which is longer than a football field.

“With a line of roughly 20 officers standing in front of the building,” Belmar said. “The shooter did not have to be particularly accurate to hit two of them.”

The two officers identities have not been shared but the two were standing beside each other working crowd control.