1 police officer killed, 3 others shot in separate incidents across US
SAN ANTONIO — A suspect has been arrested in the fatal weekend shooting of a San Antonio police detective.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Monday evening that 31-year-old Otis Tyrone McCain was arrested without incident in the Sunday night killing of Detective Benjamin Marconi. He was arrested around 4:30 p.m. Monday after the car he was driving was stopped on Interstate 10.
McManus had said previously that dashcam video from Marconi’s patrol vehicle provided “a lot of information” for investigators about his death.
Marconi was shot as a he sat in his vehicle after making a traffic stop. Authorities have said a gunman walked up to Marconi’s driver’s-side window and fired.
Marconi was writing a ticket for a motorist at the time. Investigators have said that driver was not connected to the shooter.
TEXAS SHOOTING
In the first incident, 50-year-old Benjamin Marconi, a 20-year veteran of the San Antonio force was fatally shot as he sat in his squad car during a routine traffic stop outside the city’s police headquarters.
The assailant stopped his car behind the police cruiser, walked up and shot the officer in the head through the window as he was writing a ticket, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told a news conference on Monday.
The gunman then reached through the window, fired a second shot into the officer, returned to his vehicle and sped away.
A total of 57 U.S. law enforcement officers have been killed by gunfire so far this year, a 68 percent increase from the same period in 2015.
MISSOURI SHOOTING
Also on Sunday, a 46-year-old St. Louis police sergeant was shot in the face by a person in a car who pulled up beside the officer’s cruiser at an intersection then fled. St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said the wounded officer was conscious and able to speak after the attack.
The suspect was later killed in a shootout after officers spotted his car, police said on Monday.
FLORIDA SHOOTING
Meanwhile, a third police officer was shot on Sunday during a traffic stop on Sanibel Island on Florida’s Gulf Coast but was not seriously hurt, local media reported.
The officer was treated for a shoulder wound, according to the reports, while the suspect was apprehended at his home on an island off Ft. Myers.
‘WORST NIGHTMARE’
In a fourth incident, a police officer in Kansas City, Missouri, was shot and wounded during a struggle with an armed suspect who tried to flee after a traffic stop, police said.
The suspect was killed and a Kansas City police spokeswoman said investigators were determining whether the officer was shot accidentally by one his colleagues.
In Texas, federal, state and local authorities had joined the search for the San Antonio gunman, whom McManus described as “extremely dangerous, both to the police and to the public.”
About four hours before the shooting, he said, surveillance video showed the suspect had briefly entered police headquarters and asked a question of a desk clerk before leaving.
McManus said it was not immediately known why the suspect entered the building, and he declined to say what the clerk was asked.
Investigators did not have any immediate clues to the man’s identity, he said. They found no apparent link with the man whom the officer pulled over in the traffic stop.
“This is everyone’s worst nightmare,” McManus said. Referring to the recent ambush killings of police officers in Texas and Louisiana, he said, “Unfortunately, like Dallas, like Baton Rouge, it’s happened here now.”
The latest shootings come amid an intense national debate over the role of law enforcement and especially the use of force by officers against minorities.
In July, five Dallas police officers were killed when a black U.S. military veteran opened fire during a protest against police shootings of black men. Days later, a gunman killed three police officers and wounded four others in Baton Rouge.
Earlier this month, an Iowa man was charged with killing two police officers who were shot in their patrol cars in the Des Moines area. He had been ejected by police from a high school football game after waving a confederate flag at black spectators.
Police Chief Sam Dotson said the 46-year-old officer was shot twice in the face. cops shot
“Fortunately for the blessing of God the officer’s going to survive,” Dotson said during a brief news conference after the shooting. He declined to name the officer but said he is a married father of three who has been with the department for about 20 years.
The officer was not involved in a call or a traffic stop but was sitting in traffic about 7:30 p.m. Sunday when another car pulled up alongside his marked police vehicle. The officer told police he heard at least two shots.
“This officer was driving down the road and was ambushed by an individual who pointed a gun at him from inside of his car and shot out the police officer’s window,” Dotson said.
Police reported that officers later pulled up behind the suspect’s vehicle and that he fled on foot. Police said the man fired shots at the officers, who returned fire, killing him. No officers were shot.
Police said the suspect was wanted for violent crimes and likely feared being recognized.
Two other police officers were also shot Sunday night, but it wasn’t clear whether the incidents were targeted attacks.
An officer with the Gladstone, Missouri, police department near Kansas City was shot, along with a suspect. A Sanibel, Florida, officer was shot in the shoulder during a traffic stop Sunday night, and was treated for his injuries and released.
In San Antonio, McManus said Marconi had pulled over a vehicle and while he was inside his squad car writing a ticket, a car pulled up behind him. The driver of that car got out, walked up to the officer’s driver-side window and shot Marconi twice in the head, then walked back to his car and drove away.
Marconi was pronounced dead at a hospital.
McManus said investigators are looking into all leads and motives, including whether it could be related to an officer-involved shooting earlier Sunday in the city. In that incident, McManus said, police fatally shot a man who pointed a gun at officers outside an apartment following a seven-hour standoff.
“Hopefully, we’ll solve this one real quick,” McManus said.
The police department posted a photo of a man on its Facebook page Sunday evening, saying “he might have information on the murder” of Marconi. Police are asking for assistance in identifying the man, who is shown wearing a hat and walking in the photo.
Some streets downtown were blocked off with police tape as officials investigated the slaying.
