As violent crime continues to rise all across the country, police officers increasingly find themselves the target of attacks in major American cities.
As reported by Fox News, three police officers were shot in Houston, Texas on Thursday; one officer was shot in the foot, another was shot in the leg, and the third was shot in the arm, all shot by the same suspect. All three officers have since been hospitalized at Memorial Hermann Hospital, in stable condition.
The suspect initially fled and holed up in a nearby house, leading to an intense standoff with police. After a firefight led to the 31-year-old suspect being shot in the neck, the suspect surrendered himself.
On Wednesday, two police officers were shot in St. Louis, Missouri, and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a sheriff’s deputy was shot multiple times during a traffic stop.
One of the two officers shot in St. Louis is currently in “very critical, very unstable” condition after being shot in the leg. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Chief John Hayden said in a press conference on Wednesday that he was “asking the public to pray for our officers. This is a rough time.”
“They’re doing everything they can to keep people safe,” Hayden continued, “and we keep having these critical incidents.”
The officers in question pursued a vehicle that matched the description of one wanted in a homicide from the previous night. After pulling the vehicle over, the occupants shot both of the officers before taking off again. All four suspects have since been arrested.
The sheriff’s deputy in Milwaukee was pursuing someone who fled on foot from the scene of a traffic stop, before the suspect shot him multiple times in the arms and the torso.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas said that the officer’s “injuries at this point do not appear to be life-threatening,” but noted that “this is twice within two weeks law enforcement officers have encountered individuals with weapons and have been shot doing their job.”
The alarmingly high number of such incidents in a short period of time reflects the ongoing rise of violent crime throughout the United States, from lootings to carjackings. The year 2021 saw the highest number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in modern history, with 458 officers losing their lives.