BREAKING: Gunmen Shoot at Cops in Missouri, Georgia

Josh Luckenbaugh | July 8, 2016
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Update (4:30 p.m.): A press conference inlcuding Ballwin police chief Kevin Scott and St. Louis County police chief Jon Belmar has revealed further details about the police shooting in Missouri on Friday.

Scott said the officer stopped the suspect for what he believed to be a speeding violation. After speaking briefly with the suspect, the officer was returning to his car when the suspect approached him quickly from behind, firing multiple shots. The officer was hit at least once in the neck.

The incident was captured by the dashboard camera in the officer's car. The suspect immediately fled in his vehicle, and was later apprehended by authorities with a semiautomatic handgun. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "The suspect, 32, had a weapons violation out of St. Louis, for which he was put on probation. He was given probation for a stolen vehicle charge in Oklahoma in 2011. He was picked up as a felon in possession of a firearm in California and paroled in March 2015." There was no answer in regards to possible motive.

Scott added that the officer was "fighting for his life" in ICU, but was in stable condition. "Today my heart aches for the men and women of Ballwin police department and entire law enforcement family," he said. 

Update (3:54 p.m.): Ballwin Police Department released a statement declaring that the officer is in critical but stable condition:

Update (2:57 p.m.): Reports indicate the male police officer was shot in the neck, and is currently in critical condition at Mercy Hospital St. Louis.

A day after five police officers were shot to death during a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, Texas, another officer was reportedly shot in Ballwin, Mo., Friday morning. 

According to reports, the officer was shot after first encountering the suspect in a vehicle. The extent of the officer's injuries is unclear, but St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters the officer took a "hard hit."

The suspect proceeded to flee in a blue Ford Taurus, abandoning the vehicle after another officer began to pursue, but was ultimately apprehended and taken into custody. 

According to the police, a pistol was recovered from the scene, but no further details have surfaced regarding the suspect. 

Also on Friday, a gunman in a stolen SUV opened fire on a white police officer in Rosell, Ga. The police officer, who was on patrol at the time, was not injured in the attack. The motive for the shooting is not yet known, and police said they do not know if the seemingly random incident was at all related to Thursday's massacre in Dallas.

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