Latest: What we know about the deadly Dallas police shooting

World Today

Dallas Police shield bystandersDallas Police shield bystanders after shots were fired Thursday, July 7, 2016, during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings of black men. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

A sniper opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas, killing five officers and injuring seven others, including two civilians, during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men, police said, in a week that bore dark echoes of the tumultuous civil rights era.

On Friday evening, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says authorities believe Micah Johnson, a 25-year-old suspect, was the lone attacker and that the city is safe. Johnson was killed by a robot-delivered bomb in a parking garage where he had exchanged fire with officers.

Before dying, the police chief said, the suspect told officers he was upset about recent shootings and wanted to kill whites, “especially white officers.” The man also stated that he acted alone and was not affiliated with any groups, Brown said.

Eyewitnesses at the scene captured these videos as the events unfolded.
(Warning: Offensive language)

Below are updates as they happen

UPDATE: 6:15 p.m. EST

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says authorities believe a 25-year-old suspect in the attack that killed five police officers and wounded seven others was the lone attacker and that the city is safe.

Rawlings said at a news conference Friday that he believes the city can start healing now.

UPDATE: 5:15 p.m. EST

Dallas police say the slain suspect in the killings of five police officers had bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition, and a personal journal of combat tactics at his home.

They also say that people they interviewed have described 25-year-old Micah Johnson as a loner.

Police killed Johnson using a robot-delivered bomb after negotiations failed.They say detectives are in the processing of analyzing the information contained in his journal.

UPDATE: 4:45 p.m. EST

Two patrol cars have been parked outside of Dallas police headquarters to serve as a memorial to the five officers who were killed and seven who were wounded in an overnight attack.

The police department has been posting photos of people pausing by the memorial. Some have adorned the cars with flowers, signs and flags.

UPDATE: 3:30 p.m. EST

President Barack Obama has ordered flags lowered to half-staff to honor the 12 police officers and two civilians who were shot in an attack in Dallas.

Obama’s proclamation Friday applies to American flags flown at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds, military installations and Navy vessels. It extends through sunset Tuesday, July 12.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texas flags to be flown at half-staff statewide during the same time period to honor the victims. Five of the officers were killed. The other seven and the two civilians were wounded.

UPDATE: 2:30 p.m. EST

Gov. Greg Abbott has issued an open letter to the people of Texas in response to the attack in Dallas that killed five police officers and wounded seven others.

Abbott titled the letter “A Time To Come Together,” and posted it online Friday. He also provided it to The Dallas Morning News.

In the letter, Abbott asks for prayers and underlines that “every life matters.” He urges Texans to come together and says “Texans are the first to open their hearts, their homes, their wallets to offer charity and love.”

UPDATE: 1:45 p.m. EST

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have put off political events out of respect for five police officers fatally shot during a protest in Dallas.

Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has postponed a rally scheduled for Friday in Pennsylvania, but still plans to travel to Philadelphia for a scheduled appearance at the African Methodist Episcopal Convention.

Trump has canceled his plans to address Hispanics in Miami on Friday. The presumptive Republican nominee denounced the police deaths as “a coordinated, premeditated assault on the men and women who keep us safe.” Clinton says she is mourning the officers killed “while doing their sacred duty to protect peaceful protesters.”

UPDATE: 1:35 p.m. EST

Authorities have apparently finished an initial search of the home of a suspect in the deadly attack on Dallas police officers.

Agents in Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives vests on Friday carried several bags of unknown materials from 25-year-old Micah Johnson’s home in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite.

Authorities stopped blocking off the street just before noon. No one answered a knock on the door at the home.

UPDATE: 1:04 p.m. EST

The U.S. Army said that Dallas shooting suspect Micah Xavier Johnson had served as an enlisted soldier and served a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

UPDATE: 12:33 p.m. EST

“The answer must not be violence. The answer is never violence,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said during remarks late Friday morning on the Dallas police shootings.

Watch her full statement here:

UPDATE: 12:15 p.m. EST

Investigators can be seen walking in and out of a suburban Dallas house believed to be that of a man suspected in the overnight attack that killed five Dallas police officers and wounded seven others.

About a half-dozen police vehicles are parked outside the two-story brick home in Mesquite thought to be that of Micah Johnson.

Authorities haven’t publicly disclosed the name of a suspect whom police killed with a robot-delivered bomb after negotiations failed. But a law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information told The Associated Press that he was 25-year-old Micah Johnson.

Mesquite authorities say they were at the home to assist Dallas investigators.

UPDATE: 11:50 a.m.

The president of the NAACP is calling for policies, not handwringing, in the wake of the deadly attack on police in Dallas.

Cornell William Brooks made the comment in an interview Friday on “CBS This Morning.” He says that includes establishing a national standard for excessive use of force and federal laws that address police accountability and community trust.

The attack began Thursday night at a protest over recent killings by police of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Five officers were killed and seven others were wounded. Two civilians were also wounded and police killed a suspect.

Brooks says citizens are afraid and capturing more fatal shootings by police on video due to a minority of officers “who defile the profession by their conduct.”

UPDATE: 11:20 a.m. EST

A robotics expert says Dallas police appear to be the first law enforcement agency to use a robot to kill.

Peter W. Singer, of the New America Foundation, says the killing of a suspect in Thursday night’s fatal shooting of five police officers is the first instance of which he’s aware of a robot being used lethally by police.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters that after hours of failed negotiations and in order to not put any officers in harm’s way, his department used a robot to deliver a bomb that killed the suspect. Brown said they saw no other option.

Singer said in an email Friday that when he was researching his 2009 book “Wired for War” a U.S. soldier told him troops in Iraq sometimes used MARCbot surveillance robots against insurgents.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 11:08 a.m. EST
Texas law enforcement official identifies slain suspect in Dallas attack as Micah Johnson, 25.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 8:15 a.m. EST

Mayor Mike Rawlings says a bullet went straight through the leg of one police officer as snipers fatally shot three members of his squad during a protest in downtown Dallas.

Rawlings, who says he spoke to the wounded officer, said Friday that the officer expressed sorrow at his loss and that he felt “people don’t understand the danger of dealing with a protest.”

The mayor says it’s important to uphold the right of people to protest, but that more care needs to be taken to ensure the safety of police officers at such events.

Snipers shot and killed five police officers and wounded seven more at the demonstration Thursday evening to protest the police killing of black men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and St. Paul, Minnesota. Two civilians were also injured.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 8:10 a.m. EST

Police Chief David Brown says authorities are still not certain that they have identified everyone involved in an attack on a downtown protest march that killed five police officers.

Brown said Friday that investigators have not ruled out that others may have been involved in the attacks that left a total of 12 officers and two civilians shot.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says an overnight standoff with one suspect in a parking garage ended when police detonated an explosive about four hours after the attack began. Authorities say the explosive was attached to a robot to protect officers.

Brown would not reveal any details about other potential suspects that have been detained by police and interviewed.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 7:55 EST

Police Chief David Brown says a suspect in the overnight attack that killed five police officers, wounded seven others and wounded two civilians said he was upset over the recent police shootings of black men and wanted to kill white people.

Brown said at a news conference Friday that the suspect made the comments before he was killed by an explosive used by police.

He says his department and their families are grieving and that the divisiveness between police and the public must stop.

Authorities say snipers opened fire on police officers during a peaceful protest in downtown Dallas Thursday night over the recent fatal shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Authorities say three other suspects were arrested.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 7:25 a.m. EST

A man wrongly identified by Dallas police as a suspect in a sniper attack on police says he turned himself in and was quickly released.

The Dallas Police Department put out a photo on its Twitter account late Thursday of a man wearing a camouflage shirt and holding a rifle with the message: “This is one of our suspects. Please help us find him!” The tweet remained on the account early Friday morning.

The man in the photo, Mark Hughes, tells Dallas TV station KTVT that he “flagged down a police officer” immediately after finding out he was a suspect. He says police lied during a 30-minute interrogation, telling him they had video of him shooting.

Videos posted online show Hughes walking around peacefully during the shooting and later turning over his gun to a police officer.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 7:15 a.m. EST

Dallas Area Rapid Transit officials say three DART police officers wounded by snipers during a protest are expected to recover.

Thursday night’s shootings left four Dallas police officers and one DART officer dead, plus seven other officers wounded. The demonstration was to protest two fatal police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week.

A DART statement Friday identified the agency’s three wounded personnel as 44-year-old Officer Omar Cannon, 32-year-old Officer Misty McBride and 39-year-old Officer Jesus Retana. DART spokesman Morgan Lyons did not release details of the injuries, but said all three should recover.

Officer Brent Thompson was the first DART officer killed in the line of duty since the transit agency formed a police department in 1989. Thompson was 43 and had worked as a DART officer since 2009.

Online: http://www.dart.org/

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 7:05 a.m. EST

Mayor Mike Rawlings says a total of 12 police officers and two civilians were shot during a protest march in downtown Dallas.

Rawlings said Friday that he does not believe that any of the wounded victims have life-threatening injuries.

He says five officers were killed and seven more were injured when snipers opened fire during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 6:40 a.m. EST

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says the suspect involved in an overnight standoff with police died after officers used explosives to “blast him out.”

Rawlings said Friday that he was not sure how the suspect died or what weapons were found on him.

He says police have swept the area where the standoff took place and found no explosives.

Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas Thursday evening, killing five officers and injuring six others during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 6 a.m. EST

People gathered in small groups on Dallas’ tense, police-filled streets before dawn early Friday struggled to fathom the still-unsettled situation.

Resident Jalisa Jackson says: “I think the biggest thing that we’ve had something like this is when JFK died,” evoking the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the city’s streets. She calls it “surreal.”

Police said at least four suspects were involved in the killings of five police officers just hours before. The suspects were not immediately identified.

Downtown, officers crouched beside vehicles, SWAT team armored vehicles arrived and a helicopter hovered overhead.

Eleven Dallas officers were shot Thursday night during a peaceful protest over this week’s fatal police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota in what the city’s police chief characterized as a sniper attack.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 5:45 a.m. EST

Dallas police say no explosives have been found in extensive sweeps of downtown areas following the fatal shooting of five police officers and the wounding of six others by snipers.

Security was tight Friday morning with numerous streets closed to vehicle traffic in the main downtown Dallas business district hours after Thursday night’s attacks.

The gunfire happened during protests over this week’s fatal police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota of two black men. Police have detained at least three people in the investigation of the Dallas shootings.

Police said a fourth suspect was engaged in a standoff with authorities and had made threats about bombs.

Maj. Max Geron tweeted before dawn Friday that primary and secondary sweeps for explosives were complete and no explosives were found.

The gunfire claimed the lives of four Dallas police officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer. DART serves Dallas and a dozen other North Texas cities. The transit agency operates buses and the state’s largest municipal rail system.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 5:20 a.m. EST

A memorial group says the slaying of five police officers in Dallas in an attack blamed on snipers was the deadliest day in U.S. law enforcement history since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Four Dallas police officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer were fatally shot Thursday night. The gunfire happened during protests over this week’s fatal police shootings of two black men, in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Six other officers were wounded in the Dallas attacks.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which monitors the deaths of officers, reports 72 officers were killed as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. The group labels that attack as the deadliest day in U.S. law enforcement history.

Online: http://www.nleomf.org/facts/enforcement/deadliest.html

 

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 4:30 a.m. EST

President Barack Obama says America is “horrified” over the shootings of police officers in Dallas and there’s no possible justification for the attacks.

Obama is speaking from Warsaw, Poland, where he’s meeting with leaders of the European Union and attending a NATO summit.

Obama says justice will be done and he’s asking all Americans to pray for the fallen officers and their families. He also says the nation should express its gratitude to those serving in law enforcement.

Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas Thursday evening, killing five officers and injuring six others during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men.

Obama said earlier there was no contradiction between supporting law enforcement and making certain biases in the justice system are rooted out.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 – 3:30 a.m. EST

Dallas Area Rapid Transit has identified its officer who was fatally shot when snipers opened fire during a downtown Dallas protest.

DART said early Friday morning that 43-year-old officer Brent Thompson was killed in the Thursday night shootings. He’d joined the DART Police Department in 2009.

DART says he’s the first officer killed in the line of duty since the agency formed a police department in 1989. The statement says “our hearts are broken.”

DART says the other three DART police officers shot during the protest are expected to recover from their injuries.

Also killed during the shootings were four Dallas police officers.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 – 3:10 a.m. EST

Police say a fifth officer has died after snipers opened fire on police at a rally in Dallas. Six other officers were injured.

The gunfire broke out Thursday night while hundreds of people were gathered to protest fatal police shootings this week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said Three people are in custody and a fourth suspect was exchanging gunfire with authorities in a parking garage downtown early Friday.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 – 3 a.m. EST

A family member says a protester who was shot when snipers opened fire on police at a rally in Dallas was shielding her sons when she was injured.

A sister of 37-year-old Shetamia Taylor says Taylor was at the protests Thursday night with her four sons, ages 12 to 17. Theresa Williams says that when the shooting began, Taylor threw herself over her sons. She was undergoing surgery early Friday after being shot in the right calf.

Police say four police officers were killed and seven injured in the shootings. The shootings happened at a protest over recent fatal police shootings of black men.

Williams says two of Taylor’s sons became separated from their mother in the chaotic aftermath. She says they’re now stuck behind a police barricade at a hotel near a parking garage where police exchanged gunfire with a suspect.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 – 2:40 a.m. EST

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he’s cutting short an out-of-state trip to go to Dallas after four police officers were killed and seven others injured when snipers opened fire during protests.

Abbott said in a release early Friday morning that he would be heading directly to Dallas. The shootings happened Thursday night in downtown Dallas.

Abbott also says he’s spoken with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to express his condolences and offer any assistance the city needs.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said in a statement that “our thoughts and prayers go out to these officers and their families, and to those who have been injured.” He said his office is in close contact with local authorities and will be offering to provide whatever support they can to help victims and bring the “perpetrators to justice.”

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 – 2:15 a.m. EST

Dallas police say a person of interest whose picture had been circulated has turned himself in.

Police earlier had circulated a picture of a man in a camouflage T-shirt who carrying a long gun.

Police had no update on whether that person was indeed a suspect. However, Police Chief David Brown said authorities had three people in custody. One is a woman and two are people who were in a car stopped on a road.

A man who identified himself as the brother of the man whose photo was circulated says his brother was not one of the shooters. He told television station KTVT that once the shootings had started, his brother had turned the gun over to a police officer.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 – 1:50 a.m. EST

Dallas Police Chief David Brown says three people are in custody after snipers opened fire on police officers during protests and says a fourth person is exchanging gunfire with officers.

Brown said at an early Friday morning news conference that authorities are negotiating with a suspect in a downtown parking garage who has been exchanging gunfire with officials.

The chief says the suspect is not cooperating and has told negotiators he intends to hurt more law enforcement officials.

The shooting attack killed four officers and injured seven others. It came amid protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men.

Brown says authorities are not certain all suspects have been located.

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 – 1:45 a.m. EST

Dallas police say they are questioning two occupants of a vehicle after an officer saw a person throw a bag into the back of the vehicle and speed off.

Police said late Thursday night that an officer spotted someone carrying a camouflage bag and quickly walking down the street. The person then threw the bag into the back of a black Mercedes and sped off at a high rate of speed.

Police say officers followed the vehicle southbound on Interstate 35 to a point south of Dallas where they performed a traffic stop. Police then began questioning both occupants of the vehicle.

Television footage showed many police cars surrounding a vehicle stopped on Interstate 35.

police stop a driver

Dallas police stop a driver in downtown Dallas, Thursday, July 7, 2016, following shootings of police officers. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

UPDATE: 07/8/2016 – 12:45 a.m. EST

Dallas police say a suspect in shooting of officers at Dallas protests is in custody and a person of interest has surrendered.

UPDATE: 07/7/2016 – 11:35 p.m. EST

One witness who was at the scene posted videos to Facebook, where he claimed to see at least three officers wounded near El Centro College. (Warning: Offensive language)

A statement from Dallas Police Chief David Brown released by a city spokeswoman said “it appears that two snipers shot ten police officers from elevated positions during the protest/rally.”

The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday while hundreds of people were gathered to protest fatal police shootings this week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota.

Brown’s statement said three officers were dead, two were in surgery and thee were in in critical condition.

“An intensive search” for suspects was underway, it said. No one was in custody.

The protesters had gathered after a Minnesota officer on Wednesday fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a car with a woman and a child in a St. Paul suburb. The aftermath of the shooting was purportedly livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video.

A day earlier, Alton Sterling was shot in Louisiana after being pinned to the pavement by two white officers. That, too, was captured on a cellphone video.

Other video footage from the scene showed that protesters were marching along a street in downtown, about half a mile from City Hall, when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement saying he has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety director to offer “whatever assistance the City of Dallas needs at this time.”

“In times like this we must remember — and emphasize — the importance of uniting as Americans,” Abbott said.

police officer receives comfort at the Baylor University Hospital

A Dallas Area Rapid Transit police officer receives comfort at the Baylor University Hospital emergency room entrance Thursday, July 7, 2016, in Dallas. Police say one rapid-transit officer has been killed and three injured when gunfire erupted during a protest in downtown Dallas over recent fatal shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. (Ting Shen/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

The search for the gunman stretched throughout downtown, an area of hotels, restaurants, businesses and some residential apartments. The scene was chaotic, with helicopters hovering overhead and officers with automatic rifles on the street corners.

“Everyone just started running,” Devante Odom, 21, told The Dallas Morning News. “We lost touch with two of our friends just trying to get out of there.”

Carlos Harris, who lives downtown told the newspaper that the shooters “were strategic. It was tap tap pause. Tap tap pause.”

The gunshots in Dallas came amid protests nationwide over the recent police shootings.

Story by The Associated Press