Shooting of Benjamin Marconi

On November 20, 2016, Benjamin Marconi, a detective with the San Antonio Police Department, was shot to death in San Antonio, Texas, during a routine traffic stop in front of the department's headquarters. The suspected shooter, identified as Otis Tyrone McKane, was arrested the next day after a massive manhunt, and charged with capital murder. Event: The shooting occurred in front of the San Antonio Police Department headquarters before noon. Detective Marconi was sitting inside his patrol car, writing a traffic ticket to a motorist he pulled over. At that moment, another motorist pulled up from behind him, walked out of his car, approached Marconi's side-window, and shot him in the head. He then reached through the open window, shot Marconi in the head again, and then fled in his car. The shooter was believed to have had no relationship to the original motorist who was pulled over. Marconi, a 50-year-old officer who had been with the department for 20 years, later died at the San Antonio Military Medical Center at 12:22 p.m. He was the first San Antonio police officer to die in the line of duty since 2013. Aftermath: Investigators believed the shooter was targeting police officers in general. The shooting took place on the same day as three other attacks against police officers in St. Louis and Gladstone, Missouri, and Sanibel, Florida; these shootings were unrelated to one another and the San Antonio shooting, and resulted in serious but non-fatal injuries. At the time of these shootings, there was already an "alarming spike in ambush-style attacks", and the total number of attacks on uniformed officers was reportedly up in 2016. This was also the 60th shooting homicide of a police officer in 2016, already representing a significant increase from 2015's total of 41 officers shot and killed. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus compared the killing to the recent mass shootings in Dallas, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Suspect: Otis Tyrone McKane, aged 31, was identified as the suspected shooter. He was arrested on the day following the shooting, after a massive manhunt, while riding in a car with a woman and a child on Interstate 10. McKane allegedly visited the San Antonio police headquarters and briefly spoke to a clerk four hours before the shooting. He had a criminal record, including an assault charge recorded in 2012. He married an unidentified woman between the aftermath of the shooting and his arrest; though there is a 72-hour waiting period between receiving a marriage license and holding a ceremony, this waiting period was waived by a judge who declined to give a reason. Following his arrest, McKane was charged with capital murder and jailed on a US$2,000,000 bond. While being escorted out of the police station to be taken to Bexar County Jail, he claimed to reporters that he had been upset at the court system for not allowing him to see his son, and also issued an apology to Marconi's family. Reactions: Governor Greg Abbott condemned the killing and proclaimed that "attacks against law enforcement officers will not be tolerated in Texas and must be met with swift justice." Mayor Ivy Taylor also condemned the killing, called for patience in the ongoing investigation, and extended her condolences to Marconi's family. President-elect Donald Trump called Marconi's family to offer his condolences. Other law enforcement agencies sent tributes for Marconi on social media. On the day after the shooting, Governor Abbott urged the Texas Legislature to pass his proposed Police Protection Act, which would classify attacks against law enforcement officers as hate crimes. The act received support from James Pasco, executive producer of the Fraternal Order of Police, who also expressed concern about the San Antonio killing and the three other shootings in Missouri and Florida, and blamed the erosion of trust in law enforcement on politicians, activists, and the media. In a Facebook post commenting on the announcement of McKane's arrest, Burnet County Judge James Oakley wrote, "Time for a tree and a rope..." Oakley later deleted the post and apologized for his choice of words, telling the Huffington Post that he did not intend to make a racially-charged comment.Chief McManus announced that, as a result of the shooting, San Antonio police officers would not be conducting traffic stops alone. The four shootings on November 10 prompted some police departments to put its officers in pairs until further notice.