A police officer in San Antonio, Texas, was shot dead near his department headquarters on Sunday writing out a traffic ticket, authorities have said.
Police chief William McManus told a press conference that at about 11.40am local time the officer pulled over a driver on the south side of the police headquarters, and began writing a ticket inside his police cruiser. A second driver, in a black Toyota or “Toyota-like Nissan”, then pulled up behind the officer’s car, McManus said.
“The driver got out, walked up to the driver’s window, fired one round, shooting the officer in the head,” McManus said. The driver then “reached inand fired again”.
McManus said that the suspect walked back to his car, pulled around the cruiser and drove through the parking lot. The shot officer was pronounced dead at the hospital, he said, adding: “We don’t have a motive, there are a couple different angles that we’re looking at and as we sort through that we’ll be able to have a better idea of why this might have happened.”
Late on Sunday, San Antonio police said the officer who died was 50-year-old Benjamin Marconi, a police veteran of 20 years.
The suspect was described as a black male, between 5ft 7in and 6ft tall, clean-shaven, and wearing a grey shirt and black pants.
McManus urged anyone with information about the shooting to come forward, saying: “This is everyone’s worst nightmare.” He compared the shooting to others that targeted police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas, Texas, earlier this year.
“It’s always difficult, especially in this day and and age when police are being targeted across the country,” he said. “If this individual is a danger to police or anybody else we’ll try to get him off the streets.”
In a statement on Sunday, Mayor Ivy Taylor expressed her condolences. She added: “This type of crime cannot and will not be tolerated.” Texas governor Greg Abbott also released a statement, calling the shooting a “horrific act of violence”.
“Attacks against law enforcement officers will not be tolerated in Texas and must be met with swift justice,” he said.
Please RT - this is the suspect vehicle of the gunman who killed an SAPD officer today. pic.twitter.com/gXPmS4gK96
— Bexar County Sheriff (@BexarCoSheriff) November 20, 2016
In a separate incident in St Louis, a police sergeant was taken to hospital in a critical condition but expected to survive after being shot twice in the face.
“Fortunately for the blessing of God the officer’s going to survive,” Police chief Sam Dotson said during a brief news conference after the shooting, describing the shooting as an “ambush”.
He declined to name the officer but said he was a married father of three who had 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 7.30pm local time on 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.
