San Antonio Officer Fatally Shot Outside Police Headquarters (UPDATED, VIDEO)

SAN ANTONIO, TX — A San Antonio police officer was shot Sunday morning outside police headquarters, the police chief confirmed.

The shooting reportedly occurred at about 11:45 a.m. outside San Antonio Police Department headquarters at South Santa Rosa and West Nueva streets. The officer reportedly was shot while inside his patrol car writing out a traffic ticket and was pronounced dead at 12:30 p.m. while hospitalized.

The slain officer was identified as Benjamin Marconi, 50, a 20-year veteran of the SAPD. His late father, James Marconi, was a San Antonio police officer before him, serving for 32 years, officials noted in a subsequent news briefing.

"Most families will be celebrating the holidays," a somber police chief William McManus said at a subsequent news conference. "SAPD will be burying one of its own because of an ultimate act of cowardice, but a suspect who will be caught and brought to justice."

By Sunday evening, the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed a person of interest in the killing was being questioned by police. Chris Bozeman of the Marshals Service told media outlets the man was arrested at around 8:30 p.m., although the name of the detainee or his connection to the crime weren't revealed.

Beyond his long career in law enforcement, the younger Marconi also had the distinction of being a gay officer, one of a few in police forces nationwide as law enforcement increasingly values diversity within its ranks. On his Twitter account, he identified himself as a gay Republican supporting the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. In June, he shared a message of support for the victims of a massacre at an Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub.

On Monday, Marconi family members issued a statement thanking those who sent messages of condolences and support. At the same time, they asked for privacy as they grieve for their lost loved one.

"At this time, the Marconi family would like to give thanks from the bottom of our hearts for the outpouring of support, prayers, and love we have received," the family's statement read. "At this time, we would appreciate privacy to mourn the loss of a wonderful father, brother, grandfather, friend and last but not least, a peace officer."

In a twist of tragic irony, Marconi also re-tweeted an honor roll call this past February listing San Antonio officers killed in the line of duty. After his killing on Sunday, McManus ordered that his officers not make traffic stops alone for the remainder of the day, instead calling for officers to patrol the streets in tandem with a partner.

As Marconi sat in his patrol car filling out a traffic ticket, a car pulled up behind him and the driver walked up to the scene outside of the downtown police headquarters at the intersection of Nueva and Santa Rosa streets, McManus explained in the press conference. The suspect is said to have shot the officer in the head, later reaching inside the vehicle to shoot a second time before returning to his vehicle and fleeing the scene, the chief added.

Police were still conducting a search for a suspect, McManus told reporters during the press briefing after the officer's death. Once caught, the suspect will be charged with capital murder, McManus said.

The officer was transported to the San Antonio Medical Medical Center for treatment of injuries, where he later died.

Mayor Ivy Taylor issued a statement expressing condolences to the fallen officer's family. Marconi was said to be survived by two grown children.

"I want to extend my deepest condolences to the family of the officer killed outside police headquarters today as well as to our entire police force," Taylor said. "This type of crime cannot and will not be tolerated. I ask for the community's thoughtfulness and patience as the investigation continues and SAPD searches for the suspect."

An outpouring of support came from other police departments throughout Texas and beyond expressing their condolences to their San Antonio counterparts. "Our thoughts and prayers are with our @SATXPolice family," the Austin Police Department tweeted. The Houston Police Department issued similar sentiments: "Our thoughts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters @SATXPolice. Our thoughts are with you in coming days."

The Fort Worth Police Department also issued a tweeted message of condolences to the loved ones and colleagues of their brother in blue:

The Houston Police Department also issued a tweeted message of condolence, adding a personal note to the killer: "To the coward who fired the shot, we will find you."

Gov. Greg Abbott also expressed condolences, adding the incident increases his resolve to sign his proposed Police Protection Act that would make police shootings an automatic hate crime.

Attorney General Ken Paxton also released a statement offering, with his wife, condolences to the family of the slain officer: “Texans grieve today, yet again, as a courageous police officer was senselessly murdered in the line of duty in San Antonio. My office will support the San Antonio Police Department however we can now and in the days ahead. Angela and I extend our prayers and deepest sympathy to this officer’s family and to his colleagues in San Antonio and around Texas.”

The SAPD released a still image from a surveillance camera showing the suspect's vehicle, a black Nissan or Toyota sedan. The car is distinguishable by its set of black rims and tinted windows, police said.

The suspect is described as a black male standing at about 5 feet, 7 inches to 6 feet tall, possibly with a goatee and wearing a gray hooded garment at the time of the shooting. Later in the day, police released a surveillance camera still image of a "person of interest" who might have information related to the killing, issued in the hopes someone might recognize him and alert police as to his whereabouts. The photo of the person of interest can be seen below:

Anyone with information on this incident is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (210) 224-STOP. A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest of the suspect, according to Crime Stoppers officials.

The killing of the officer in San Antonio is the latest in a string of attacks targeting police, coming less than five months after five officers were killed in Dallas during an otherwise peaceful protest decrying police brutality. The July killings by a gunman represented the deadliest day for law enforcement in the U.S. since the events of 9/11. Police originally believed the mass killing was the work of several shooters but later identified the lone gunman in the attack.

On the same day as the officer was killed in San Antonio, two more officers were shot in ambush-style attacks elsewhere in the country. In an incident in St. Louis bearing eerie similarities, a 46-year-old sergeant was shot twice in the face Sunday night when an assailant pulled up beside his car. Like Marconi, the injured officer from St. Louis is a 20-year veteran of the police department there.

“He was targeted because he was a police officer,” Mayor Francis Slay said at a press conference at Barnes Jewish Hospital, as quoted by the St. Louis Dispatch. Late Sunday, the officer in St. Louis was in stable condition, but was expected to survive.

Also on Sunday, a Sanibel, Florida, police officer was shot in the shoulder during a traffic stop. The officer's shooting was a first for the island police department, according to police officials. The officer has since been released from the hospital, according to WINK News.

Just 10 days after the attack in Dallas, a gunman killed three officers near a gas station and convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Earlier this month, two officers near Des Moines, Iowa, were killed in separate ambush-style attacks while sitting in their patrol cars.

After the Dallas shootings, Marconi tweeted out his support for the families of the fallen there while raising funds to defray funeral costs for the families.

The killing capped a violent morning in San Antonio. Earlier, police shot and killed a man in the city's Northwest side after the suspect barricaded inside his ex-girlfriend's home for several hours. McManus hasn't indicated whether the two incidents are related.

The seven-hour standoff occurred after a woman called police to report her former boyfriend had broken into her apartment in the 5800 block of Shadow Glen Drive at around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. The woman was able to escape, but her ex-boyfriend holed himself up in the apartment for several hours.

The man eventually emerged from the dwelling at around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, according to police, pointing a gun at them. Police opened fire on the suspect, killing him.

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