Two men charged in shooting that wounded St. Louis officers

Authorities on Thursday identified the man killed in an exchange of gunfire with St. Louis officers leaving two of them wounded, one critically.

Police said the man killed was 23-year-old Equan Hopson of St. Louis County. Meanwhile, charges were filed against two other men who were in an SUV with the suspect before it crashed. Those men are not accused of shooting the officers.

The officers on Wednesday spotted a Toyota 4-Runner believed to have been involved in an overnight killing. A probable cause statement said the SUV sped away, prompting a pursuit that ended in neighboring Ferguson, Missouri, where the SUV crashed.

Hopson and the other two men -- 23-year-old August Burns of Florissant, Missouri, and 35-year-old Clyde Thomas of Farmington, Missouri -- fled on foot and Hopson fired at the officers, who returned fire, St. Louis County police said in a news release.

One officer was struck in the abdomen. Police Chief Joh Hayden initially said he was in "very critical" condition, but later said he was improving after surgery. The other officer was shot in the leg and is in stable condition. Both of the injured officers are in their 20s. Their names were not released.

Hopson died at a hospital later Wednesday

Burns and Thomas were arrested after a short foot pursuit. Burns was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and resisting arrest. Police said when he fled, a shotgun fell from where he was seated in the backseat. He was allegedly wearing an ammunition carrier holding shotgun shells when he was arrested. He is jailed on $250,000 cash-only bond.

Thomas was charged with resisting arrest. He is jailed on $50,000 bond.

The shooting happened just blocks from where Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson officer, fatally shot Michael Brown, an 18-year-old Black man, on Aug. 9, 2014, setting off months of unrest. Wilson was not charged and resigned from the police force in November 2014.

On Monday, two St. Louis officers were critically injured when they were struck by a vehicle on Interstate 64 as they responded to a crash. Four other people also were struck, leaving three of them critically injured.