Two US police officers have been fatally shot in a pair of "ambush-style" attacks near Des Moines, Iowa, underscoring growing anti-police sentiment across the country over police violence against civilians.
Both officers were sitting in their squad cars on Wednesday when they were shot and killed, the Des Moines Police Department said.
Both officers were shot about 2 miles (3 km) apart in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, Des Moines police department spokesman Paul Parizek told a news conference.
One officer was found dead about 1 am local. The second officer was found dead about half an hour later, Parizek said.
"The shootings appear to have been ambush-style attacks," a statement from the Des Moines police department said.
Police have captured the man suspected of the killings. Scott Michael Greene, who is 46 and white, was taken into custody after police publicly named him as their suspect.
So far this year, 50 police officers have died by gunfire in the line of duty in the United States, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
Earlier this year, five officers in Dallas, Texas, and three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were fatally shot after police killed two black men in separate incidents.
The latest attacks against police happened at a time when anti-police sentiment is high across the US due to a surge of unjustified killings of unarmed African Americans and other minorities over the past several years.
The use of excessive force by police has become the focus of national debate in America, particularly over high-profile killings of African-Americans by mainly white officers.
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