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HOUSTON, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- A police officer was killed by a driver on Sunday while writing a traffic ticket outside the police headquarters in San Antonio, a city in the southern part of the U.S. state of Texas.
The 50-year-old Benjamin Marconi, a 20-year veteran of the police force, had pulled over a vehicle later Sunday morning. When he was inside his vehicle writing a ticket, a vehicle pulled up behind him. The driver of that vehicle got out, walked up to the officer's driver-side window and shot the officer in the head, the suspect then reached into the window and shot Marconi a second time. He was rushed to a hospital but died Sunday afternoon due to his serious injury, San Antonio police Chief William McManus said at a press conference Sunday afternoon.
"This is everyone's worst nightmare," McManus said, adding that "It's always difficult, especially in this day and age, when police are being targeted across the country."
Until further notice, police officers will not be allowed to conduct traffic stops alone and they must have cover.
The suspect, who was as a black male wearing a hoodie, baggy pants, and possible facial hair, has not yet been arrested and a motive is not known.
Police are now looking for a black car which is believed to be the suspect's vehicle.
The shooting came less than five months after a gunman killed five police officers in the northern Texas city of Dallas who were working a protest about the fatal police shootings of black men in the U.S. states of Minnesota and Louisiana. It was the deadliest day for American law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001.
Ten days after the Dallas attack, a gunman killed three police officers near a gas station and convenience store in Baton Rouge, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana.
