ST. LOUIS (AFP) - A suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting of two police officers in the racially troubled US suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, the St. Louis County police said Sunday.

St Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said in a press conference on Sunday that 20-year-old Jeffrey Williams had been charged with assault and gun violations in connection with the shooting.

Two Ferguson police officers were wounded by gunshots early Thursday during a protest over the treatment of blacks by the town's mainly white police force. The officers, who were shot in the face and shoulder, have been released from the hospital.

Williams was from the Ferguson area that had been involved in the protests there and demonstrating that night and had admitted using a .40 calibre handgun in the shooting in which the officers were hit, McCulloch said. The charges carry maximum sentences of life in prison, he said.

A recent report by the US Justice Department found evidence of deep-seated institutional racism in the city's government and mostly white police force, sparking new protests in the divided city.

The police shooting of an unarmed black man in Ferguson in 2014 sparked months of sometimes violent protests and police crackdowns in the suburban town.

Ferguson's police chief and other officials stepped down following the Justice Department report while the mayor has resisted calls to resign.