Ferguson shooting video: Footage captures moment two police officers shot during protests in St Louis

Two officers were hit, though both are conscious in hospital

Police react moments after the shots were fired (Reuters)

A video has emerged of the moment an unknown gunman opened fire on officers from the hill above the police station in Ferguson, Missouri.

Witnesses have said that the three or four gunshots that can be heard in the video came from the crest of Tiffin Avenue Hill rather than the group of protesters assembled peacefully outside the station.

In the video, police are lined up in an orderly fashion outside the station while protesters mill about in an apparently relaxed fashion. A car horn can be heard as traffic continues to flow through the junction.

The start of the shooting then sparks chaos, as officers and protesters alike run for cover. The police all draw their guns - and someone shouts out that this "wouldn't be happening if you had acknowledged nine months ago", a reference to the official response to the shooting of Michael Brown in August 2014.

Police said two officers were hit as numbers at the protest started to dwindle.

One of the officers was hit in the face, the other in the shoulder, with what St Louis Police Chief Jon Belmar described as "very serious gunshot injuries".

Read more: Two police officers shot amid Ferguson protests

Neither officer was from the Ferguson police unit itself, Belmar said. He identified them as a 32-year-old officer from Webster Groves and a 41-year-old from St Louis County, and said both were conscious in hospital.

Peaceful demonstrations have become routine at the police station on South Florissant Road, ever since the shooting of Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in August last year.