A surveillance video caught the attempted assassination of two LA County Deputies Saturday evening. Even by today’s libertine standards, what it depicts is both depraved and deeply disturbing: A lone man walks up to the passenger side of a parked patrol car and opens fire at point-blank range, then races away down the street. As KABC reports, “A massive search for a gunman is underway as two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies are ‘fighting for their lives’ after they were shot in the head in an ambush at the Metro station in Compton.”

Both deputies sustained multiple gunshot wounds and are in critical condition after having undergone surgery. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the deputies, a 31-year-old female and a 24-year-old male, were shot multiple times but were able to radio for help. “That was a cowardly act,” Sheriff Villanueva said. “The two deputies were doing their job, minding their own business, watching out for the safety of the people on the train. To see somebody just walk up and start shooting on them. It pisses me off. It dismays me at the same time. There’s no pretty way to say it.”

There’s a $100,000 reward for the capture of the assailant – as well as a challenge from Sheriff Villanueva to Lebron James to double it.

The subsequent actions of protesters were disgraceful. As the Wall Street Journal notes, “No one other than the shooter is responsible for the gunfire ambush Saturday of two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies as they sat in their patrol car. But the same can’t be said for the protesters who blocked the entrance to the hospital where the two are being treated, and chanted ‘we hope they die.’ The latter is a cultural poison nurtured by the left-wing anti-police movement sweeping the country.”

We’re not inclined to link to profane footage of these protestors yelling “we hope they die,” but we do so in order to demonstrate just how sick certain Democrat pressure groups have become.

President Trump responded to the attack, telling a Nevada audience on Sunday, “The radical left in America is waging open war on law enforcement. Hundreds of officers nationwide have been injured in left-wing riots and mobs.” Joe Biden, meanwhile, used the assault to push his gun confiscation agenda: “Weapons of war have no place in our communities. We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.” Biden must’ve thought this assailant used an “AR-14.”

Black conservative commentator Candace Owens was more direct in affixing the blame: “Why does this happen? Because pea-brained celebrities that are idolized like [LeBron] James tell young black men that they are ‘literally being hunted.’ This is the natural result of such hyperbolic, dishonest rhetoric. The racist, anti-police, black lives matter LIE is to blame.” In short, she slam-dunked James.

The brazen nature of the crime is reminiscent of other attacks in recent years. As the Journal continues, “Police haven’t identified a suspect, but the randomness of the ambush suggests someone looking for any available police target. We’ve seen this before when anti-police fever is hot. [An assailant] shot and killed two officers in their car in New York in 2014 following the death of black suspects being arrested in Ferguson, Mo., and New York.” That was followed by the Assassination of eight officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge in a 10-day stretch on Barack Obama’s watch.

This is the rotten fruit of the Left: Its demonization — indeed, its dehumanization — of our law enforcement professionals has all but put a bounty on their heads.

When it comes to Rule of Law, we as a people will reap what we sow. As leftist activists and even mayors push to cut police budgets, there will be fewer cops on the beat, and those who are will necessarily reduce the risks they’re able to take. And those who’ll suffer most will be the very people leftists claim to care about most.

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