Law enforcement shaken by attacks
Suspect arrested in San Antonio shooting
Four attacks on police officers in one day in separate cities that have shaken the law enforcement community is an alarming sign of the times, a police union representative said Monday.
One officer died and three were injured in the Sunday attacks in San Antonio, St. Louis and Gladstone, Mo., and Sanibel, Fla.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Monday evening that Otis Tyrone McKane, 31, 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.
“Police officers are doing their jobs the best they can, sometimes heroically, but now more than ever this kind of violence is in the back of their minds,” James Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, told USA TODAY.
Pasco says that, while no direct connection linking Sunday’s shootings is apparent, social media can spread information — often incorrect information — quickly and widely and can provoke action. Pasco says a drumbeat of criticism from the media, politicians and activists has eroded the esteem granted to law enforcement from the public.
“And when cops aren’t safe, nobody is safe,” he said.
Sunday’s incidents occurred as tensions over police-linked shootings have flared nationwide. In July, five officers were killed in Dallas by a heavily armed sniper who opened fire at a peaceful protest against police-involved shootings. In Baton Rouge less than two weeks later, three officers were killed and three others wounded in an ambush.
In San Antonio, McManus said the death of Marconi during an otherwise routine traffic stop near the police station was more than a random act. “I feel we (police) were targeted,” McManus said. “I think the uniform was the target.”
He said Marconi, 50, was conducting the traffic stop outside police headquarters just before noon when he was shot in his car while writing a ticket. McManus said a black male with a goatee drove up in a Mitsubishi Galant, walked up to Marconi’s car and shot the 20-year department veteran in the head before reaching in and shooting him again.
The shooter then drove off, McManus said. The driver of the vehicle who had been stopped had no role in the tragedy, he said.
McManus said the suspect briefly visited the police station four hours before the shooting, speaking to a desk clerk. He said the dashcam video provided “a lot of information,” but he provided no details.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement asking everyone in Texas to pray for the Marconis’ loved ones as they deal with “this unimaginable tragedy.” Abbott urged the Legislature to pass his Police Protection Act, which would classify attacks against law enforcement as hate crimes.
Pasco agreed, and said his organization will press Congress in 2017 to add attacks on officers to the federal hate crimes statute.
“It should be wrong to attack somebody based on the color of their uniform,” Pasco said.
In St. Louis, a 46-year-old police sergeant who was shot twice in the face Sunday evening was released from the hospital Monday, Chief Sam Dotson said.
Dotson said the officer was sitting in his cruiser in traffic when he was shot by someone in a nearby car. The 19-year-old sus- pect was killed hours later in a shootout with officers. Dotson said the teen may have been connected to several robberies, a carjacking and a homicide.
In Gladstone, an officer was shot after a passenger ran from a car stopped for a traffic violation, according to Kansas City police, which handled the investigation. The suspect, described as a white male in his late teens, pulled out a gun and was killed in the ensuing shootout that left one officer wounded.
The officer was expected to make a full recovery.
In Florida, an officer was in his patrol car wrapping up a routine traffic stop at about 8 p.m. Sunday when he was shot by someone driving by.
The city said on its website that the suspect was taken into custody a short time later after exchanging gunfire with police. The wounded officer was treated at a hospital and released.
“I feel we (police) were targeted. I think the uniform was the target.” William McManus, San Antonio police chief