Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Wednesday called for an end to violence against police officers, following the shootings of law enforcement officers in Texas and Illinois.
“We have had four more guardians slain, and frankly our hearts are broken over this,” Lynch said in her prepared remarks to a housing conference in Washington, D.C. “I offer the families of these officers my condolences, and I ask that all of us come together and keep them in our prayers.”
Lynch pointed out that she has spent “virtually my entire career” working closely with law enforcement personnel. She is now the nation’s top federal law enforcement officer, and when she was sworn in as Attorney General in April, she became the first black woman to hold the position.
“I know that these men and women have volunteered to take on one of the most challenging, dangerous and important jobs that we have here,” she said. “They do this for us. They move us aside, they run into danger for us, and so please again keep them in your prayers.”
In the Houston suburb of Cyprus on Friday, Deputy Darren Goforth was shot 15 times at a gas station in an ambush. On Tuesday, Lt. Joe Glineiwicz was in pursuit of three suspects in Fox Lake, Illinois, when he was fatally gunned down.
But Lynch didn’t stop there. She also decried the rise in violence across the nation in recent months, from the slaying of two Virginia reporters on live television to the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C.
“This wide violence against all of us, regardless of what uniform any of us wear, has to end,” Lynch said, adding that federal and local law enforcement officials are to meet in Detroit later this month to discuss ways to curb violence.
“The Department of Justice stands ready to support law enforcement around this country as they continue to fight every day to protect the communities that they serve and of which they are a vital part,” Lynch concluded. “And we also stand with every community member, police and civilian alike, as they all work towards a safer community for us all.”
