Suspect arrested in ambush killing of San Antonio police officer

A woman leaves flowers at a makeshift memorial for slain San Antonio police Detective Benjamin Marconi on Monday. Marconi was fatally shot during a traffic stop Sunday near police headquarters.
A woman leaves flowers at a makeshift memorial for slain San Antonio police Detective Benjamin Marconi on Monday. Marconi was fatally shot during a traffic stop Sunday near police headquarters.
Eric Gay

Police in San Antonio have arrested 31-year-old Otis Tyrone McKane as a suspect in the killing of a police officer on Sunday.

McKane told reporters he wanted to apologize, according to The Associated Press; he said he was angry about a custody battle and took it out on "somebody who didn't deserve it."

A manhunt for a suspect in the fatal shooting of a veteran Texas police detective ended Monday when Otis Tyrone McKane, pictured, was arrested on a capital murder warrant.
A manhunt for a suspect in the fatal shooting of a veteran Texas police detective ended Monday when Otis Tyrone McKane, pictured, was arrested on a capital murder warrant.

In the middle of the day on Sunday, 50-year-old Detective Benjamin Marconi was sitting in his patrol car writing a ticket after pulling over a vehicle outside San Antonio Police headquarters.

Another vehicle pulled up behind him, and a man walked up and shot through Marconi's window, hitting him twice in the head. Marconi, a 20-year veteran of the force, died of his injuries.

A manhunt was underway for most of Monday, before authorities arrested McKane. Here's more from the AP:

"McKane was being led by police to the Bexar County Jail late Monday when he told reporters that he was angry with the court system for not letting him see his son and took it out on Detective Benjamin Marconi.

" 'I've been through several custody battles, and I was upset at the situation I was in, and I lashed out at someone who didn't deserve it,' McKane said. He said he wanted to apologize to the family of the slain officer."

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus has said he doesn't believe the suspect in the shooting had any connection to the motorist initially pulled over by Marconi; instead, police believed Marconi was targeted for his uniform.

Law enforcement officers in St. Louis; Sanibel, Fla.; and Gladstone, Mo., were also shot on Sunday, none fatally. The officer in St. Louis was, like Marconi, the victim of what authorities have described as an ambush-style attack. Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.