Police officer Randall Hancock was shot on Friday (July 8) in Valdosta, Georgia, as he responded to a call over a vehicle break-in, police said.
The accused shooter, Stephen Paul Beck, 22, had called police and fired on Hancock when he arrived, hitting him in his protective vest and in the abdomen, beneath his vest, police said. Hancock shot back and wounded Beck.
"The motive behind the shooting is unknown at this time," police said in a statement.
Police officers also were also shot in Tennessee and Missouri.
The ambushes followed the attack in Dallas late Thursday (July 7), when a black U.S. military veteran of the Afghan war who said he wanted to "kill white people" opened fire at a protest, killing five police officers and wounding seven others plus two civilians. The protest was called to decry police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Tennessee earlier this week.
