Attorney General Lynch denounces ‘heinous’ attack on cops near DC

Attorney General Loretta Lynch is condemning the killing of a suburban Washington police officer in an apparently unprovoked attack outside a Landover, Md., district station.

The Sunday afternoon shootout was “a heinous act of violence and a cowardly crime,” Lynch said in a statement on Monday, while offering “any possible aid” to Prince George’s County, Md., as officials investigate the incident.

{mosads}Officer Jacai Colson’s death, she added, is “a reminder of the threats that public safety officers face every day, and the dangers that they bravely confront, in every jurisdiction across the country.”

According to police, a man walked up to the suburban Washington district offices around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, and opened fire at the front doors.

Initial evidence “shows the gunman intended to die during a gun battle with police,” the Prince George’s County police claimed on Twitter.

The suspected gunman was reportedly wounded in the incident, and taken to a local hospital.

Two of his brothers were also taken into custody in connection with the shooting, According to Reuters, one of the men is believed to have accompanied the gunman to the scene of the shootout, but left before the attack took place.

The 28-year-old Colson was killed in the shootout. He was a four-year veteran with the police’s anti-narcotics division.