Dallas police taking all threats as credible

World Today

US-CRIME-POLICE-SHOOTINGFlower, cards, balloons, and candles pile on top of police cruisers outside the Police Headquarters memorial for officers killed in the recent sniper attack in Dallas, Texas on July 10, 2016./ AFP PHOTO / Laura Buckman

The Dallas police chief says police are taking all threats as credible in the wake of the shooting that killed five officers last week.

CCTV America’s Sean Callebs reports.

Chief David Brown said at a news conference Monday that they have to do that for the sake of their families. He pointed to a threat he received from a private Facebook page to the Dallas Police Department’s page that is being investigated.

Johnson shot at killed five officers and wounded 11 officers and two civilians during a protest Thursday in downtown Dallas. He was killed by a bomb delivered by remote-controlled robot after negotiations with authorities.

10:50 a.m.

The Dallas police chief defended the department’s use of a robot-delivered bomb to kill the suspect in Thursday’s shooting.

Chief David Brown said at a news conference Monday that the suspect, 25-year-old Micah Johnson, had “already killed us in a grave way, and officers were in surgery that didn’t make it.”

Brown added: “This wasn’t an ethical dilemma for me.”

Johnson shot and killed five officers and wounded 9 officers and two civilians in downtown Dallas.

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10:25 a.m.

The Dallas police chief says authorities are downloading more than 170 hours of officers’ body camera footage and collecting “countless hours” of dashcam video as well.

Chief David Brown said at a news conference Monday that Brown said 11 officers fired weapons at Micah Johnson and that two used an explosive device.

Johnson shot at killed five officers and wounded 11 officers and two civilians during a protest Thursday in downtown Dallas. He was killed by a bomb delivered by remote-controlled robot after negotiations with authorities.

Brown described the robot, which he said was purchased in 2008 for $151,000, and is still functional.

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9:40 a.m.

The parents of Dallas shooter Micah Johnson say they are surprised by his violent rampage and note he returned from an Army deployment to Afghanistan a changed man.

Johnson’s father, James Johnson, said in an interview posted on TheBlaze website Monday that he “didn’t see it coming.” Through tears, Johnson says: “I hate what he did.”

Micah Johnson, a black 25-year-old from Mesquite, Texas, targeted police officers in Thursday’s attack, fatally shooting five and wounding more.

His mother, Delphine Johnson, says that as a child her son wanted to join the police, but that after serving six years in the Army Reserves, he became a “hermit.”

The family says Micah Johnson never showed signs of hatred for certain groups of people, but that he hated “injustice.”

 

9:10 a.m.

The family of one of the five Dallas police officers fatally shot last week is thanking the public for its support and asking people to keep all police in their prayers.

Brent Thompson was a 43-year-old officer with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority. He was killed Thursday during a downtown protest march.

In a statement Monday, Thompson’s family said they feel “blessed and sustained” by the messages of support they have received.

Thompson’s family says its focus remains “honoring Brent in the days ahead and planning our next steps as a family.”

Thompson had recently married another transit officer and had six grown children from a previous marriage. He was with the transit authority for seven years.

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8:50 a.m.

Several dozen demonstrators have gathered outside the Dane County Sheriff’s Department’s headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, to protest recent police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Protesters are lining the sidewalks around the building, holding signs reading, “Does your badge still stand for justice?” and “Black lives matter more than white feelings.” Monday morning commuters honked in support.

Protester Timothy Maymon suggests police should be retrained to shoot to wound.

No uniformed police officers are apparent at the protest.

Police killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in the Twin Cities suburb of Falcon Heights last week. On Thursday, a black Army veteran opened fire on white officers in Dallas, killing five.

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8 a.m.

Detroit police have arrested four men over Facebook postings that the city’s police chief says amount to threats against officers.

The Detroit News reports (http://detne.ws/29xvuqS ) that one of the men is accused of urging people to kill white officers.

Chief James Craig said Sunday that the department’s counter-terrorism unit found that posting while monitoring social media. He says “while it’s been established that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment, we’re talking about people specifically saying on Facebook they want to kill white police officers.”

Police say two other posts about shooting officers were scrutinized. Craig says two of the men were released and two were jailed on unrelated warrants.

The arrests follow the fatal shooting of five officers in Dallas. Craig has said his officers are on alert after the shootings.

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1:01 a.m.

The Dallas police chief says the suspect in the deadly attack on officers taunted authorities during two hours of negotiations, laughing at them and at one point asking how many officers he had shot.

The chief and the county’s most senior elected official also said Sunday that Micah Johnson had larger attack plans and possessed enough explosive material to inflict far greater harm.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown says Johnson, a black Army veteran, insisted on speaking with a black negotiator. The chief says he also wrote in blood on the wall of a parking garage where police cornered and later killed him.

The shootings marked the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Five officers were fatally shot just a few blocks from where President John F. Kennedy was slain in 1963.