San Antonio Police Chief on Cop Killer: 'The Uniform Was the Target'
Police have offered $10,000 for information leading to his arrest.
— -- Texas authorities are still hunting for the gunman accused of killing a detective this weekend while he was writing a traffic ticket. Today, police described the suspect as being "extremely dangerous to the police and to the public."
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told reporters this morning that his force has "pulled out all the stops" in trying to track down the suspected cop killer.
"We have pulled out all the stops. We have engaged our federal, our state partners and our local partners," he said.
Multiple authorities, including the governor of Texas and the mayor of San Antonio, likened the shootings to similar ones that took place in Dallas and in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this July.
McManus said that the "uniform was the target" and that he and his colleagues felt targeted after the attack.
McManus previously identified the deceased as Benjamin Marconi, 50, a 20-year veteran of the force. Marconi was close to police headquarters at the time he was shot, and the suspect in the shooting was inside headquarters at some point on Sunday before the shooting.
The San Antonio Police Department posted a video on Facebook of the suspect's activity around the building that day.
The chief declined an opportunity to explain why the suspect was inside headquarters before the shooting.
The shooting yesterday allegedly unfolded when the suspect pulled up behind Marconi's cruiser in what police described as a black Mitsubishi Galant with custom rims. The suspect exited his car, walked over to Marconi and opened fire, shooting the detective in the head through the window as he was writing a ticket, according to McManus.
The gunman then reached through the window and fired a second gunshot at the officer, McManus said. He returned to his vehicle and sped away in the Galant.
Police posted an update on Facebook with photos of the suspect, seeking information on his whereabouts. They described him as a black male with a goatee and possibly tattoos on his left arm.
A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the suspect's arrest.
Yesterday was a particularly violent day for law enforcement, as San Antonio wasn't alone in terms of shooting incidents: Police were shot and wounded in Sanibel, Florida, in a drive-by-style shooting this weekend; shots were also fired at police in Gladstone, Missouri. It's unclear what the motives were behind the attacks.
Police scanner recordings of the San Antonio shooting offer a frightening account of what took place there.
"I've got an officer down in front of headquarters," a voice on the recording said. "Black male in a black Nissan. I need EMS right now in front of headquarters."
The shooting comes in what has been a year of heightened tensions surrounding police.
After the widely covered police shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, a gunman killed five police officers in Dallas at a protest.
Also in July, a man wearing a ski mask and armed with two rifles and a pistol killed three officers near a gas station and convenience store in Baton Rouge.
Earlier this month, Scott Michael Greene of Urbandale, Iowa, allegedly shot and killed two police officers in an ambush-style attack.
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