Targeted? Four Cops Shot Within 24 Hours in Four Different Cities

Four police officers in San Antonio, Texas; Sanibel, Florida; and Gladstone and St. Louis, Missouri were shot on Sunday. Three of the shootings appear to have been cases of police being deliberately targeted.

Ben Marconi, 50, a San Antonio detective was the only one of the four officers killed. Police released security camera video on Facebook of a suspect.

San Antonio police Chief William McManus identified the officer as Benjamin Marconi, 50, a 20-year veteran of the force.

Sunday evening, police posted a picture of a person they said they were hoping to identify in connection with the case. Police also released video of the person via their Facebook page on Monday, calling him a suspect and showing him apparently entering the public safety headquarters:

San Antonio police Chief believes Marconi was targeted because he was a cop.

“I think the uniform was the target, and the first person who happened along was the person he targeted,” McManus said.

McManus called the suspect “extremely dangerous to both the police and the public” and urged anyone who sees him not to approach him, but to call police.

In St. Louis, a 46 year old police sergeant shot twice in the head is also believed to have been targeted for being a police officer.

“This officer was not trying to pull this car over,” Dotson said. “This officer was driving down the road and was ambushed.”

The wounded officer’s gun was in his holster during the shooting, and the veteran sergeant and married father of three told police he saw a muzzle flash to his left and felt the glass window shatter against him, Dotson said.

The officer was in critical but stable condition, according to a late Sunday tweet from St. Louis police.

The shooting in Sanibel, Florida may have also been a case of police being targeted, judging from the incident description.

Just before 8 p.m. Sunday, an officer was working a traffic stop when a man drove by and opened fire, according to a police statement.

The suspect then drove to his home in The Dunes on Sanibel Island, a country club community, where he engaged police in a shootout before being taken into custody, police said.

Only the Gladstone, Missouri incident looks as if the police officer was shot while attempting to take a suspect into custody. All the others appear unprovoked.

According to CNN affiliate KSHB, the incident began with a traffic violation and routine stop. That is, until a teenage suspect took off running and officers gave chase.

As officers attempted to take the teen into custody, a struggle ensued, the suspect produced a handgun, shots were fired and the suspect was killed, police told KSHB. The driver of the vehicle from which the teen fled was taken into custody, questioned and released.

The injured officer remained at the hospital early Monday, the Gladstone Department of Public Safety tweeted.

It has only been five months since officers were assassinated in Dallas and Baton Rouge. While all the shootings may not be connected, most seem to share the same motive. Ever since a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri shot and killed an assailant in 2014, racial tensions aggravated by inaccurate media reporting have had cops feeling like they have targets on their backs.  No small portion of the blame lies with President Obama and his corrupt Justice Department for helping propagate false narratives that inflamed an already dangerous situation. A change in administration may not mitigate the problem either. Since Donald Trump was elected, the left has shown that it is more intent on provoking racial strife than ever.

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