WAR ON COPS? OFFICERS SHOT IN 4 STATES
'Sad day for law enforcement' as police departments 'bombarded with threats'
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2014/02/police-officer-badge-600.jpg
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2016/07/Micah-Johnson.jpg
Micah Johnson
Is America in the midst of a bloody war on cops?
Within hours of a police-officer killing spree in which five officers were killed and seven others injured (plus two civilians) in a targeted shooting attack in Dallas, Texas, Thursday evening, reports of other shootings of police officers in at least three other states have surfaced.
In fact, 26 police officers have been killed in 2016, a number 44 percent higher than this time last year, according to USA Today.
Those incidents include at least 11 ambushes, which is already more than the eight ambushes that took place in all of 2015.
One of the suspects in Dallas, Micah X. Johnson, was a member of a black-power group and served six years in the U.S. Army Reserve. He reportedly told police during a standoff in which he was killed that his intent was to kill white people and that more attacks were coming.
ABC News reported, “Other [police] departments reported being bombarded with threats and some implemented new policies requiring officers to patrol in pairs.”
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2016/07/dallas_shooting.jpg
Dallas police respond to snipers
Tennessee
In Bristol, Tennessee, a black man named Lakeen Keon Scott, 37, who was reportedly “troubled” by police involved shootings of black people, fired indiscriminately at passing cars and police on a highway Thursday.
Related articles (story continues below):
Scott, a former Army soldier who was armed with a rifle and a pistol, shot five people. He killed a woman driving down the highway named Jennifer Rooney, a 44-year-old mother of two who was delivering the morning’s newspapers. The gunman also injured three others, who are expected to survive. One of his victims included Bristol Police Officer Matthew Cousins who was treated for a leg wound and released from the hospital.
An officer returned fire, striking Scott.
The Heavy.com posted this Facebook image of a man named Lakeen Keon Scott, whom the site reports is the suspected gunman in Tennessee
An Army spokeswoman confirmed to ABC News that Scott served from January 1998 to June 1999 – just 17 months. He was a private in the 5th Battalion 5th Air defense Artillery Regiment stationed in South Korea.
Scott’s brother, Gerard Griffin, told ABC News Scott “was a little angry” when he exited the military.
“He seemed to be getting more and more frustrated with the condition of black people in America,” Griffin said.
Griffin said he’s struggling to understand why his brother would resort to violence.
“Don’t get me wrong, everything he did was wrong,” he told ABC. “I ain’t condoning nothing he did at all. But frustration, we can all understand that.”
Scott is in serious but stable condition at the Bristol Regional Medical Center.
A spokesman with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said investigators still haven’t determined if Scott was only targeting white people.
Georgia
A white police officer in Valdosta, Georgia, was shot Friday morning after “an Asian male” called 9-1-1 to report a car break-in and then ambushed the officer who was dispatched to the scene.
“The officer called out on the radio screaming for assistance,” Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress said at a news conference.
One shot hit Officer Randall Hancock in his abdomen, and others hit his vest. Hancock is in stable condition and is recovering from surgery.
The suspected gunman, identified as 22-year-old Stephen Paul Beck, was injured in the exchange of gunfire and is expected to survive. Charges against Beck are still pending.
“We’re putting pieces together to understand what happened and why, developing witnesses,” said Scott Dutton, spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, according to London’s Daily Mail. “There’s nothing to indicate there’s a connection to [Dallas].”
Childress said the shooter’s motive is still unclear.
“You start to wonder,” the police chief said. “But any motive of why this happened this morning, it would be speculation.”
Missouri
A local police officer was shot at 11 a.m. local time in Missouri near St. Louis while he conducted a Friday traffic stop, WND reported.
He’s now in critical condition and “fighting for his life,” according to KABC-TV.
The officer works for the Ballwin Police Department and was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. Ballwin is located about 20 miles outside of St. Louis.
“A suspect was reported to be in custody after a foot chase,” and a “weapon was recovered,” other media outlets reported.
Fox 2 Now said the officer was shot while conducting a traffic stop in west St. Louis County, near New Ballwin Road, north of Manchester.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the officer, who has not been identified, suffered neck wounds.
The suspect was describe by police as a tall, thin black male driving a blue Ford Taurus with temporary Illinois tags. He was chased down and taken into custody without incident, according to reports.
Police have not named the suspect, and they said they’re still uncertain about his motive.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar called Friday “a sad day for law enforcement.”
Copyright 2016 WND
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/war-on-cops-officers-shot-in-4-states/#US3qk1d6bbjpotwF.99
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