In the wake of a mass shooting in Dallas that left five police officers dead, U.S. Rep. Phil Roe is calling on the nation’s leaders to take a stand against the violence that has affected the nation.
“I have an incredibly heavy heart today,” Roe said. “Five police officers who were there trying to do their duty and protect a group of people, protesters, were basically mowed down.”
In what is being described as an “ambush” on police officers, five officers were killed and seven others were wounded in the attack. The incident happened after videos showing two African-American men shot by police in Louisiana and Minnesota spurred protests and debates across the country regarding the use of force by police.
This ambush of police officers is being called the deadliest single incident for U.S. law enforcement since September 11, 2001 with the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C.
On Friday, Roe referenced one of the incidents, the one from Minnesota, which spurred the protests before the ambush on police. In that incident, a 32-year-old African-American male identified as Philando Castile was shot as he sat in his car during a traffic stop over a broken taillight. His fiancé and a four-year old child were in the car with him at the time the officer shot Castile a reported four times.
Roe said from what he knows of the Minnesota incident the officer involved wrongfully shot Castile, but he added that for individuals to go out and specifically target law enforcement because of incident such as that shooting is also wrong.
“We have to stop this,” Roe said. “We have to have someone at the top of the political spectrum, and by that I mean the President, come out and say ‘Stop this.’”
“We’ve got to look after each other,” he added. While instances of police officers using excessive force must be investigated, Roe said it is also important for the nation to protect police officers from violence perpetrated against them by people specifically targeting law enforcement officers.
“Any time I pass a police officer who has someone pulled over I say a short prayer for them because every day a police officer goes to work they don’t know if they are going to make it home that day,” Roe said. “We’re not going to get good people to go into police work and protect us if we don’t start doing something to protect them.”
Roe also spoke about the shooting which occurred in Bristol during the early morning hours on Thursday. That incident, which left one woman dead and three others, including a police officer, injured.
Roe said that matter also weighed heavy on his heart as the violence is hitting close to home.
According to law enforcement officers involved in the Bristol shooting, the suspect in that case, 37-year-old Lakeem Keon Scott, may have targeted people and officers in response to the recent incidents in Minnesota and Louisiana.