4 Officers Shot Within 24 Hours Amid Violent Year for Police
The chief of police in San Antonio said that he felt "targeted."
— -- Four police officers have been shot within a 24-hour span across four cities, adding to what has become a violent year for members of law enforcement.
Of the shootings, authorities have labelled two as being targeted attacks. One of the attacks took place in San Antonio, where a 20-year veteran of the force was killed, and the other took place in St. Louis, where a 46-year-old sergeant was shot twice in the head during an ambush but is expected to survive.
The other two incidents Sunday, which took place in Florida and Missouri, were not believed to be targeted shootings.
The National Law Enforcement Fund, an organization that tracks police officer deaths, said that the total number of fatalities this year has increased by 16 percent. Firearms-related deaths of officers are up 67 percent, the data show.
Targeted shootings of police officers, as well as recorded videos of police shooting victims, have regularly made headlines this year, leading to debates and protests on both sides of America's fractured political landscape.
President-elect Donald Trump referred to himself as the "law and order candidate" throughout his campaign for president, and frequently addressed the subject of targeted police shootings during rallies and campaign stops.
After the widely covered police shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in a suburb of St. Paul, Minn., 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.
In San Antonio, multiple authorities, including the Governor of Texas, likened the shooting to similar ones that took place in Dallas and Baton Rouge this past July, and condemned it for targeting police.
Today, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told the media that the "uniform was the target," and said that he and his colleagues felt targeted in the wake of the attack.
"Absolutely they feel targeted," he said, referring to his colleagues on the force.
McManus then reflected and personalized the subject of violence against police.
"I feel targeted," he said.