Crime & Safety

Four Officers Shot, One Fatally, in Separate Weekend Shootings

A San Antonio, Texas, cop was killed as he wrote a traffic ticket. In at least two other states, 3 officers were shot and wounded Sunday.

A police officer in Texas was shot and killed outside police headquarters as he wrote a traffic ticket, the deadliest of four shootings over the weekend involving police officers. In three other shootings Sunday, three police officers in two states were shot and wounded.

In San Antonio, Texas, 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.

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, police chief William McManus told reporters at a 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. The shooting took place around 11:45 a.m.

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

As of Monday, the suspect was not in custody. McManus said he is considered to be very dangerous to both police and the public.

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In Sanibel, Florida, a police officer was shot by a passing motorist while he completed a traffic citation just before 8 p.m. Sunday, city officials said. The officer was taken to the hospital where he was treated and released.

On Monday, authorities announced the suspect was taken into custody at his home after a shootout with police.

In two shootings in Missouri, one in St. Louis and the other in Gladstone, two suspects involved in the shootings with officers were both killed.

In Gladstone, an officer stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation around 10:30 p.m. when the passenger fled and a foot pursuit ensued, KMBC reported. When officers caught up with the suspect, a struggle ensued and the suspect reportedly produced a handgun. Shots were fired, and the suspect was killed. The officer injured in the shooting was shot in the hand and is expected to make a full recovery.

The shooting in St. Louis was described by Mayor Francis Slay as "targeted." According to police, the suspect drove alongside the officer's marked vehicle and fired shots into the vehicle, striking the officer. The officer was identified as a 46-year-old male sergeant with 20 years of service. The officer, shot twice in the face, is in critical but stable condition.

Early Sunday morning, the suspect was killed in a shootout with police.

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