The fatal shooting last night in Dallas that left five police officers dead and seven others wounded brings the total number of cops killed in the line of duty by gunfire so far this year to a tragic 26 -- nearly four per month.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, 21 officers had already died from gunshot wounds in 2016 prior to last night’s massacre.
The last police officer to be gunned down in 2016 was 50-year-old Deputy Sheriff David Michel, Jr., who was shot multiple times after a struggle with an armed suspect on June 22 in Harvey, Louisiana.
The list goes on and on. Another 39 officers died from non-accidental gunshots in 2015; 47 were killed the year before.
In the last five years alone, 191 officers have been shot to death in the line of duty in the United States. This total excludes those officers who were killed by vehicular assault, stabbing, vehicular pursuit accidents and assault.