Detective Benjamin Marconi, 50, was shot and killed Nov. 20 while on duty in San Antonio. (San Antonio Police Department via Associated Press)

An officer was shot and killed just outside the San Antonio Police Department’s headquarters around noon on Sunday. Chief William McManus said the officer, Detective Benjamin Marconi, had been “targeted.”

Detectives have not identified a motive and are working to identify the shooter, who drove away in a black Toyota or Nissan sedan, McManus said at a briefing Sunday afternoon.

“This is everyone’s worst nightmare — everyone’s worst nightmare,” McManus said. “We never want to see anything like this happen.”



McManus said that Marconi was issuing a ticket outside the station and was inside his patrol car when the shooter pulled up behind him. The shooter got out of his vehicle and fired once through the window on the driver’s side of the patrol car, McManus said, striking Marconi in the head.

The shooter then reached inside the car and shot Marconi, 50, a second time before returning to his vehicle and driving away through the station’s parking lot, according to McManus.

[Fatal shootings of police officers are up more than 50 percent]

Marconi, a 20-year veteran of the force, was pronounced dead at about 12:30 p.m. at the San Antonio Military Medical Center. McManus described the shooter as between 5-foot-7 and 6 feet in height. While McManus had earlier said that the suspect was black and clean shaven, he later described him as “dark-complected” and said that witnesses’ reports conflicted on whether the man had a beard.

Police do not have a photograph of him, McManus said.

“There are a couple of different angles that we’re looking at,” he said. “As we sort through them, we’ll be able to have a better idea of why this might have happened.”

“I want to extend my deepest condolences to the family of the officer killed,” San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor said in a statement. “This type of crime cannot and will not be tolerated.”