Holder: Philadelphia officer's slaying among 'senseless' assaults

In a statement condemning the wounding of two police officers in Ferguson, Mo., overnight, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder referred Thursday to the last week's shooting death of Philadelphia Police Officer Robert Wilson III as among one of several recent "senseless" assaults on law enforcement officers.

"I condemn violence against any public safety officials in the strongest terms, and the Department of Justice will never accept any threats or violence directed at those who serve and protect our communities — from this cowardly action, to the killing of an officer in Philadelphia last week while he was buying a game for his son, to the tragic loss of a Deputy U.S. Marshal in the line of duty in Louisiana earlier this week," Holder said.

Holder issued the statement after the overnight shooting during a protest outside the Ferguson police headquarters that left two St. Louis County officers seriously wounded.

Wilson was gunned down in a North Philadelphia GameStop a week ago while making security check and buying a game for his son, who turned 10 on Monday.

Holder said the "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."

Two men, Carlton Hipps and Ramone Williams, have been charged in Wilson's slaying. The eight-year veteran of the police department was slain when, police said, he engaged in a shootout with the two brothers, who had announced a robbery in the store at Lehigh Avenue and 21st Street.

In the Ferguson shooting, one officer was shot in the face, the other in the shoulder. Both are expected to survive.