[Pereira:] Good to have you back with us here on NEW DAY. A 20-year- old from the St. Louis area is now in custody for that shooting of two police officers last week in Ferguson, Missouri. Jeffrey Williams is his name. He was arrested late Saturday, charged with first-degree assault. Now, he admitted to firing the shot. However, he claims that the target was not police. Let's bring in the managing editor of "The St. Louis American," Chris King. Also with us, CNN law enforcement analyst, former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes. Good morning. Happy Monday to the both of you. Tom, obviously, a big question here is motive and intent. Bob McCulloch, the prosecutor, at the press conference said he understood that Williams had said there was some sort of dust-up with some other people he had, some sort of beef, and that he went to find them, opened fire and that the police were not his targets. Do you buy that?
[Tom Fuentes, Cnn Law Enforcement Analyst:] Actually, Michaela, I don't buy it.
[Pereira:] Why?
[Fuentes:] Having been to the scene and looked at it, you know, we learned that the demonstrators have pretty much been moved off the street and the police and the people who are witnesses from down below on Florissant, directly in front of the police department, where the police were standing, said that they were positive the shots had come from up the hill. And having been up on that hill with a reporter, looking back down toward where the police were standing, we were told that that street was wide open, that car traffic had not yet opened up on Florissant. The demonstrators had been moved off the street into parking lots on two sides of the side street. And there really weren't demonstrators on the street to shoot at, at the time of the shooting. Now, up the street up the side street in the darkness where the shots come from, there might have been other people up there. So it's a possibility that he was trying to have, you know, a discussion, altercation, whatever, with other people up there. But the fact that four or five rang out and two hit police officers standing side-by-side when he claims he's shooting at somebody else is just a little bit farfetched, I think.
[Pereira:] What about what about you, Chris? Do you buy it? I mean, the prosecutor said some evidence supports his claim, others don't. The investigation will continue. But what do you think?
[Chris King, "st. Louis American":] I've also been up on the hill and, you know, it's a pretty good elevation fall. So if you don't know how to shoot downhill, who knows what you're going to hit? There were still protestors on the scene. I talked to plenty of people who hit the ground when the bullets rang out. And if you look at statistical probability, sorry to say, it's very common in this area for young men to shoot at young other men in the mist and hit somebody else.
[Pereira:] So the fact that nobody else was shot is such a mystery to so many people. Now, this point about whether this guy was or was not a demonstrator seems to be kind of a key factor. Chris, you know the make-up of this crowd. You've been following it. You've been covering it. You've been down there on the ground. Do you know this guy to be one of the demonstrators?
[King:] Absolutely not. Lawrence Bryant shoots for "The American" at night. He saw the night protest. He shot every single one since August 9. He saw this young man Wednesday, as he said hanging around on the protest. But he recognized him specifically as a new face, because people are wary of new faces.
[Pereira:] So Tom, does that say to you then, following your line of thought, that this guy was an outside agitator? Or was this somebody who just happened to be in the area and had other intentions?
[Fuentes:] I don't know. You know, I really don't know that, Michaela. We don't know if when the crowds were bigger and noisier and people were on, you know, different parts of different streets, whether he had been out there before or not. You know, it doesn't sound like he had been a regular protestor, if at all. But I think that, in a way, you know, there's no way to know positively whether he had been out there before.
[Pereira:] Chris, what do you think the overall effect of not only the shooting of these officers but the arrest of this young man? What kind of effect do you think it will have on the overall movement and the demonstrations and the feeling of the people who are wanting their voices heard there in Ferguson?
[King:] There are two critical things here. Jon Belmar, the county police chief, announced that people from all strata of the community, including people from the protest community, cooperated with the investigations. That is critical and beautiful. On the other hand, I do believe the chief and the prosecutor both overplayed the emphasis that this kid is a protester when he really isn't, and that that really damaged the possibility for this to be a step forward.
[Pereira:] It's an interesting thought. Now Tom, in terms of law enforcement, do you think this is going to change their reaction to the demonstrations, to the presence of people on the ground? The fact that two of their own were shot, do you think it's going to cause them to step up their presence or change how they police there?
[Fuentes:] I don't think so. I think they're still going to, you know, perform about the way they have. And it should be noted that when these shots rang out, the police just didn't wildly shoot back and, you know, hit other members of the crowd, but they were disciplined, at least not returning fire in a difficult situation. But what the police have been used to from the beginning is that, you know, starting later in the night, after midnight, after 1 a.m., I refer to this as the normal clientele of the police. People come out that are not part of the protest, that are not demonstrators. They're outside agitators, maybe even inside agitators. But they're out looking for trouble. And a lot of these people would have been on the street, causing trouble if there had never been a protest, never been an incident with Michael Brown. That's just the nature of what police deal with late at night in most places in this country. So having been a street cop six years, that's who comes out after midnight.
[Pereira:] Unfortunately, there's a good level of truth in that. Chris, I want to end with you. Final thought here: What do you expect is going to happen next? Do you think we're going to see more arrests? Do you think there's going to be lack of confidence in the mayor? What do you see happening?
[King:] I don't see Jeffrey Williams as likely having some elaborate operation behind him. I spent time on his Facebook page last night. He's really interested in himself, it looks like, and a little bit of whiskey, maybe. I don't think he's a part of some ring that's out to kill police or protestors. And I think we have the same problems we had before of this as if he's guilty. This knucklehead squeezed off two shots that night.
[Pereira:] Do you think the mayor survives?
[King:] Mayor Knowles is not an important player. The city council of Ferguson makes the decisions. The mayor is just a voting member at large at the council. His role in this is grossly overstated.
[Pereira:] Chris King, Tom Fuentes, always a pleasure to have you. Thanks so much for joining us.
[King:] Thank you.
[Pereira:] Alisyn.
[Camerota:] OK, Michaela. Let's talk about this cyclone of historic proportion. It's tearing away Vanuatu. That's the Pacific island nation. And it is in ruins this morning. Witnesses describing unimaginable destruction. CNN will take you there live.
[Berman:] And four months after the president nominated her to be the next attorney general, Loretta Lynch is still not confirmed. The top Senate Republican insisting that a new issue now has to be resolved first. So how long will this take now?