BRISTOL, Tenn. -- A black Army veteran accused of shooting at passing cars and police on a Tennessee highway told investigators that he was troubled by police violence against black people, authorities said Friday.
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The shootings were part of a series of violence across the country this week amid boiling tensions over policing and race. One woman died, and three others, including a police officer, were injured in the rampage early Thursday.
Meanwhile, police say officers have also been targeted in Georgia and Missouri in the aftermath of two killings of black men by law enforcement officers and an attack in Dallas that left five officers dead and seven more wounded. Other departments reported being bombarded with threats, and some implemented new policies requiring officers to patrol in pairs.
In south Georgia, police said an officer was ambushed Friday when he went to an apartment complex to investigate a report of a break-in. Another officer was fired upon by a motorist north of Atlanta.
In Ballwin, Mo., just outside St. Louis, police said an officer was ambushed during a traffic stop.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a news release that initial conversations with the highway-shooter suspect, Lakeem Keon Scott, 37, who is black, revealed he was troubled by the occurrences in other states, hundreds of miles away. All those shot were white, police said.
His cousin Sarah Scott said she is so close to him he called her "sister." She said she is shocked by the allegation he was enraged by police violence against black people.
"He's into his culture, he really is, but never would he hurt anybody," she said. She called him an "open, bighearted person."
Lakeem Scott was wounded in a shootout with police early Thursday and remains hospitalized.
Scott, who has no criminal history, grew up in New York City and moved to Tennessee recently.
One of Scott's brothers, Gerard Griffin, said Scott "was a little angry" when he came back from the military.
"He seemed to be getting more and more frustrated with the condition of black people in America," Griffin said.
Information for this article was contributed by Claire Galofaro, Rebecca Reynolds Yonker and Travis Loller of The Associated Press.
A Section on 07/09/2016