OVER the course of one day, 13 police officers were shot in the United States, with the dangerous 24-hour period coming less than midway through a month that has already been deadly for officers.
Five officers have died in the month of February, including one who was shot by an assailant on-campus at Bridgewater College in Virginia, and another who suffered a heart attack after responding to a disturbance at a correctional facility in North Carolina.
The 13 officers shot on Friday, February 11 serve four different states, including Arizona, Maryland, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, according to Fox News.
Some commentators attribute the surge in crime, and in officer-targeted shootings, to rhetoric from Democratic leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.
Congresswoman AOC was accused of anti-cop sentiment for criticizing the New York Police Department's annual budget, saying a proposed $1billion budget cut in 2020 was "not enough."
Representative Omar also voiced support for decreased police budgets, saying that the "current infrastructure" of American policing is harmful to marginalized communities, and "we can't go about creating a different process with the same infrastructure in place."
However, some believe the "Defund The Police" and its reforms lead to an uptick in "entitlement" among violent criminals who no longer fear repercussions for attacking cops directly.
In Frederick, Maryland, two officers were responding to a call of a suspicious person near Boscov's department store.
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Officers Bryan Snyder, 43, and Kristen Kowalsky, 32, were shot in the upper body; the suspect, 25-year-old Dominique Lamarr Lewis, was shot as well.
A helicopter airlifted both officers and the suspect to the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. All three are expected to recover.
In New Mexico, an officer was shot following a chase down State Road 333.
When approached by the officer at a gas station, the suspect slammed his Cadillac into the patrol car, then crashed into a guardrail after a pursuit.
Both suspects left the car to flee on foot, and the male suspect shot the officer. The officer was treated and released at a hospital.
A Pennsylvania SWAT officer was saved by his bulletproof vest when serving a drug warrant on West Lehigh Avenue in Philadelphia.
The suspect inside reportedly shot through the wall, striking the SWAT officer.
The officer was treated and released and the suspect was arrested at the scene.
"Thank God, our brave SWAT officer will physically recover from this cowardly attack,"tweeted Philadelphia Police Department Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.
"Emboldened, violent criminals seemingly think it's open season on our communities and our officers. It's sickening, and it has to stop! I'm proud of our officers; we will not back down!"
The highest casualty total came from a brutal shootout in Arizona that injured nine officers.
The altercation happened as officers responded to a call in South Phoenix, where a woman had reportedly been shot inside a home.
According to police, the suspected gunman allegedly invited the responding officers inside before he opened fire.
"The suspect ambushed him with a gun and shot him several times," Sgt. Andy Williams told reporters at the scene.
At some point during the standoff, an unidentified man stepped out of the home with a baby girl and placed her in a carrier outside the house before raising his hands to surrender to police.
"An adult male came to the door holding a baby, an infant," Sgt Williams recounted.
After the man surrendered the baby and himself, the suspect opened fire on officers from inside the home.
Officers were seen running for their lives as they returned fire.
"Those officers were all able to get back to safety, while two other officers returned fire at the suspect," Sgt. Williams said.
Police do not immediately believe the baby was brought out in an attempt to lure other officers. The child was uninjured.
When officers made entry into the home, the suspect was was deceased inside. A female victim, believed to be the baby's mother, died at the hospital.
All injured officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Some officers remained on the scene despite having been injured.
In February, a total of five officers have died so far, as reported by the project Officer Down Memorial Page.
Officer John Painter was shot and killed at Bridgewater College in Virginia.
The officer was responding to a "suspicious person" call and confronted a man carrying a duffel bag through the campus's Memorial Hall.
Officer Painter was shot and killed.
A Campus Safety Officer, J.J. Jefferson, was also fatally wounded by the gunman. The suspect was later apprehended.
Helen Mae Smith, a Correctional Officer at the Pasquotank Correctional Institution in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, responded to a disturbance at the facility.
Shortly after, she suffered a fatal heart attack, and was transported to the hospital, but did not survive.
Three other officers who have died in February were killed in road accidents.
Sergeant Chris Jenkins of the Loudon County Sheriff's Office, Tennessee, was struck by a tractor-trailer while trying to remove a traffic hazard; Captain Collin Birnie of the Flint Police Department in Flint, Michigan, was hilled in a head-on crash; and Officer James McWhorter, an officer for the Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement in Florida, was crossing between inspection stations when his vehicle was struck.
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