On November 20, 2016, Benjamin Marconi, a detective with the San Antonio Police Department, was shot to death in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. In the shooting, a motorist stopped his car, got out, and shot and wounded Marconi while the latter was sitting in his marked patrol car in front of the department's headquarters, writing a ticket for another driver during a routine traffic stop. Marconi, who was shot twice in the head, later died at a hospital, while the shooter fled in his car. A suspect, identified as Otis Tyrone McKane, was arrested the next day after a massive manhunt, and charged with capital murder. The shooting, which occurred on the same day as three other unrelated attacks against police officers elsewhere in the U.S., increased already high concerns about the safety of law enforcement.

Shooting

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 for a motorist he had pulled over. 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 St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

and

Gladstone, Missouri Gladstone is a city in Clay County, Missouri, United States and a suburb of Kansas City. The City of Gladstone is located only 10 minutes from downtown Kansas City, and 10 minutes from Kansas City International Airport. As of the 2020 census, th ...

, 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 shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...

s in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, and

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties ...

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 owned by his wife, Christian Chanel Fields, with an unidentified woman and a child sitting inside, 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 a charge of assault causing bodily harm to a spouse, recorded in 2012. He married Fields the morning after the shooting, and was arrested later that day. Following his arrest, McKane was charged with capital murder and jailed on a 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.

Legal proceedings

The trial was first scheduled for early 2019. Due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the trial was postponed until July 12, 2021. This was the first death penalty case in Bexar County in five years. On July 28, 2021, McKane was found guilty of Marconi's murder. After the verdict was announced, McKane removed his tie, unbuttoned and untucked his shirt and struck a bailiff attempting to handcuff him in the face with his elbow before being tackled out of the courtroom by several other deputies. On August 7, 2021, McKane was sentenced to death.

Reactions

Governor

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 ...

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 Ivy Ruth Taylor (born June 17, 1970) is the president of Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and the former Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from 2014 through 2017. The former politician and urban planner was a nonpartisan officeholder, alt ...

also condemned the killing, called for patience in the ongoing investigation, and extended her condolences to Marconi's family.

President-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Unit ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

called Marconi's family to offer his condolences. Other law enforcement agencies sent tributes for Marconi on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

. On the day after the shooting, Governor Abbott urged the

Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ar ...

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 The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is a fraternal organization consisting of sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. It reports a membership of over 355,000 members organized in 2,100 local chapters (lodges), state lodges, and th ...

, 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. The San Antonio Police Department made a

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post announcing McKane's arrest, which was accompanied by his

mug shot A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is arrested. The original purpose of the mug shot was to allow law ...

County Judge The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civil ...

James Oakley, the "chief legislator and executive" for

Burnet County, Texas Burnet County ( ) is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,130. Its county seat is Burnet. The county was founded in 1852 and later organized in 1854. It is named ...

, who does not preside over criminal courts, controversially re-posted the mug shot with the comment "Time for a tree and a rope...", which was taken as a reference to lynching. Oakley deleted the comment shortly afterwards and apologized for his choice of words. He told the '' Huffington Post'' that he did not intend to make a racially charged comment, and later described his intent for the post as being to reflect on "the cowardly crime of the senseless murder of a law enforcement officer" and that his view of McKane "is the same regardless of ethnicity." 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 send their officers out in pairs until further notice.

References