Three police officers in three different cities — San Antonio, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; and Sanibel, Florida — were shot “ambush style” Sunday in attacks that authorities are comparing to those that took the lives of officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge early this year.
The first shooting took place Sunday in San Antonio sometime before noon, according to CNN .
Detective Benjamin Marconi, 50, was sitting in his car outside of police headquarters when he became the target of a shooter.
San Antonio Police Officer shot & killed during routine traffic stop.
Prayers. So sad. So wrong. Stand w our Cops. https://t.co/TAbLVDyA6Q
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) November 20, 2016
“Marconi had just pulled over a driver on the south side of the building and returned to his patrol car to write a ticket when a man pulled up behind him,” CNN reports. “The man walked up to the patrol car driver’s side window and shot the officer in the head… The man then reached through the open window and shot him a second time, McManus said.”
Detective Marconi died on the scene. He was a 20-year veteran of the force.
The suspect then escaped in his vehicle. He is still at large.
“We consider the suspect to be extremely dangerous and a clear threat to law enforcement officers and the public,” Police Chief William McManus said at a press conference.
Williams added that surveillance video on the scene captured “a lot of things.”
“I believe that the uniform was targeted,” Williams said in regards to a possible motive for the deadly shooting. “Unfortunately, like Dallas, like Baton Rouge, it’s happened here.”
The second shooting took place at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday evening in St. Louis, Missouri, when a vehicle pulled up next to SUV of an unnamed police sergeant and the driver opened fire , according to a report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch .
The police sergeant was struck twice in the face. He is conscious and remains in critical but stable condition. He is expected to live, according to the Post-Dispatch .
“He was targeted because he was a police officer,” St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said at a press conference. “He didn’t stop anybody. He didn’t point a gun at anybody.”
The suspect, George Bush III, was later killed in a shootout with police after a brief chase.
Bush was 19-years-old. The injured sergeant is 49 and, like Detective Marconi from San Antonio, has served his department for 20 years.
The third shooting took place in Sanibel, Florida, at around 8:00 p.m. on Sunday evening.
Sanibel Police Officer Jarred Ciccone was conducting a routine traffic stop when he was randomly shot by a passing motorist, according to a report from local NBC affiliate NBC2 .
St Louis Police Officer shot in an ambush attack. In critical condition.
Prayers. War on our Police. https://t.co/YkBQ1JJhdn
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) November 21, 2016
Ciccone was shot in the shoulder. He was taken to a local hospital, treated, and later released. He is expected to fully recover from his wounds.
The suspect, Jon Webster Hay, fled the scene but was later located at his home in the Dunes neighborhood of Sanibel.
A shootout between responding officers and Hay ensued at his home. He was shot in the shoulder and the back before being arrested.
On July 7th, Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed police officers in Dallas, Texas, killing five officers and injuring seven others before being killed during a standoff with police, according to the New York Times .
Just ten days later, Gavin Eugene Long shot six police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, killing three of them, CNN reported at the time.
Both of those shootings were in response to police killings of African Americans.
[Featured Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
