Official: Lone gunman believed responsible for Dallas attack
Dallas police chief David Brown says a gunman that was holed up downtown expressed anger for Black Lives Matter and only wanted to shoot white police officers. He was killed after police sent in a bomb robot.
(Photo: Eric Gay, AP)
A 25-year-old Texan who told police negotiators he "wanted to kill white people" apparently acted alone when he went on a shooting rampage during a protest march downtown, killing five officers and injuring seven more in a carefully planned ambush, a law enforcement official told USA TODAY on Friday.
The shooter, who did not have a criminal record, was identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, said the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly.
Although police feared for hours that at least one other sniper was involved and on the run, the official said Johnson is now believed to be the lone gunman. At least three others who were detained by police as possible suspects may have no connection with the attack or Johnson, the official said.
Johnson, who served six years in the U.S. Army Reserve, including an eight-month tour in Afghanistan, opened fire late Thursday on police marshaling demonstrators peacefully protesting recent police-involved shootings of African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
An undated handout image released by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Police shows DART police officer Brent Thompson at an undisclosed location. Police identified Thompson as one of the five officers killed in shooting in downtown Dallas July 7, 2016. h (Photo: DART via EPA)
As shots range out, and several police officers went down, protesters and bystanders scrambled or fell to the pavement. Two civilians were also wounded in the melee.
The gunman was eventually chased into a building lot where negotiators talked to him for almost an hour, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said.
"The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter," Brown said, referring to the grassroots activist group. "He said he was upset about the recent police shootings. He said he was upset at white people. He said he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers."
Brown said the suspect was not affiliated with any other groups "and stated that he did this alone."
After talks broke down, the heavily armed gunman was killed by police using a robot-controlled explosive device, Brown said. A law enforcement official told USA TODAY that a rifle and a handgun were recovered from the scene where Johnson died.
The front page of Friday's Dallas Morning News following Thursday's shootings downtown. pic.twitter.com/ExIlxEMA9V— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) July 8, 2016
The killings marked the deadliest day for U.S. law officers since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks on-duty deaths. Three of the injured officers were in critical condition undergoing surgery Friday morning.
USA TODAY
The last major ambush targeting police occurred at a coffee shop in Lakewood, Wash., on Nov. 29, 2009, when a gunman walked in and opened fire on four city police officers working on their laptop computers as they prepared for their work shifts. All four were killed. The gunman later died two days later in a shootout with police.
"Our profession is hurting," Brown said Friday morning. "Dallas officers are hurting. We are heartbroken."
"All I know is this must stop, this divisiveness must stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens," he added.
Brown also praised his officers, saying they "put themselves in harm's way to make sure citizens can get to a place of security."
This is downtown Dallas the morning after snipers opened fire on police officers during protests over the two recent fatal police shootings involving black men on July 8, 2016. Mei-Chun Jau, for USA TODAY
Brown said the ambush was highly organized, indicating the shooter probably knew the march route and "triangulated" the targets from "an elevated position."
'Run for your lives!'
Richard Adams, a bystander, said the protest was "a lovely, peaceful march," until they were walking down Commerce Street near the Bank of America building parking garage when he heard what sounded like "a bunch of firecrackers going off."
"Everybody just stopped — 'Run, run for your lives!' Women with children and babies and everybody was chaotically running," he told WFAA-TV. "And then, maybe I was a half a block away, calming down a little bit when we heard it again. ... There must have been five times tonight — whenever we thought we were safe, people said 'Run, people were shot!'"
Johnson, wearing heavy body armor and carrying multiple rounds of ammunition, was killed by a police-controlled remote explosive device about 45 minutes after authorities began trying to negotiate with him.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown said they saw no other option than to use a bomb robot. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
Brown said the suspect, who was holed up in the El Centro community college building, told negotiators, "the end is coming." He also said there were bombs in the area, but officers said none were found.
USA TODAY
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings called it a "heartbreaking morning."
"To say that our police officers put their life on the line every day is no hyperbole, ladies and gentlemen, it is a reality," he said. "We as a city, we as a country, must come together, lock arms and feel the wounds that we all feel from time to time."
Brown said his department monitored social media for signs of potential trouble and attended planning sessions ahead of the protest. Before shots rang out, the Dallas Police Department live-tweeted the protest, even posting photos of officers posing with demonstrators. Brown praised the "grit" of his police force as they responded to the mayhem after gunfire broke out.
Dominique Alexander, founder of the Next Generation Action Network and an organizer of the protest march, told The Dallas Morning News, "We want Dallas to know that violence of any kind we condemn."
"We continue to stand with the families of these officers and pray with them, as well as we stand with the families of Alton Sterling and Philando in Minnesota," the 27-year-old activist told the newspaper.
Alton Sterling, who is black, was killed by two police offices outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, La., earlier this week, and Philandro Castile, also black, was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop near St. Paul, Minn., the next day. Their killings prompted the Dallas protest march.
President Obama, in Poland for a NATO summit, called the shootings "a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement." He told reporters that anyone involved “in these senseless murders will be held fully accountable, justice will be done.”
In emotional remarks at an afternoon prayer service attended by thousands, Rawlings said the community must "attack" racial issues "head on."
"Can we speak against the actions of a relatively few officers who blemish the reputation of their high calling at at the same time, support and defend the 99% of officers who do their job professionally, honestly and bravely?" he asked.
"I think we can and I think we must," Rawlings said.
One of the slain officers was identified as Brent Thompson, 43, a Dallas transit police officer who recently married.
At Baylor hospital, where several officers staged a vigil for their fallen comrades, dozens of hospital personnel came out and linked arms to shield the grieving officers from the view of bystanders as two bodies were taken out.
DART grieving the loss of Ofc Brent Thompson, 43, killed during Thurs protest. First DART officer killed in line of duty. Joined DART 2009.— dartmedia (@dartmedia) July 8, 2016
Chaotic scene
Live video feeds from news organizations and reports from witnesses painted a picture of a chaotic scene, with police cars converging on a downtown building. Marchers protesting police shootings were moving down Lamar Street near Griffin when shots were fired.
One witness told The Dallas Morning News that he heard "what sounded like six to eight shots."
Theresa Williams told the Associated Press that the injured civilian was her sister, 37-year-old Shetamia Taylor. Williams said her sister was at the protests Thursday night with her four sons, ages 12 to 17.
When the shooting began, Taylor threw herself over her sons, Williams said. She was undergoing surgery early Friday after being shot in the right calf.
Friday classes were canceled at El Centro College, a community college of the Dallas County Community College District near where the shooting took place.
In Washington, Attorney General Loretta Lynch made brief remarks on what she called a "week of profound grief and heartbreaking loss," referring to both the incidents of police-involved shootings and the killings of five police officers in Dallas.
She said such events can create a sense of "helplessness of uncertainty and of fear"
"These feelings are justified," Lynch said. "But the answer must not be violence."
The attorney general called for "calm, peaceful, collaborative and determined action" on several fronts to build trust between local communities and law enforcement officers and to create equal justice under the law for all citizens.
She also said the country "must take a hard look at the ease with which wrongdoers can get their hands on deadly weapons and the frequency with which they use them."
Clinton, Trump issue statements
The two presumptive presidential candidates for the two major parties issued statements on the shootings.
Hillary Clinton, who postponed her first campaign appearance with Vice President Joe Biden, said in statement she "mourn(s) for the officers shot while doing their sacred duty to protect peaceful protesters, for their families & all who serve with them."
Donald Trump issued a statement saying the shootings were "a coordinated, premeditated assault on the men and women who keep us safe." He also referenced this week's police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota, saying "our nation has become too divided."
"This is a time, perhaps more than ever, for strong leadership, love and compassion. We will pull through these tragedies," he added.
Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook, Kevin Johnson, Greg Toppo, Jane Onyanga-Omara and Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY; WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth.
DALLAS POLICE AMBUSHED BY SNIPERU.S. attorney general calls for action, not violence | 1:44
Attorney General Loretta Lynch says these shootings can't be the "new normal." USA TODAY NETWORK
(Photo: Eric Gay, AP)
A 25-year-old Texan who told police negotiators he "wanted to kill white people" apparently acted alone when he went on a shooting rampage during a protest march downtown, killing five officers and injuring seven more in a carefully planned ambush, a law enforcement official told USA TODAY on Friday.
The shooter, who did not have a criminal record, was identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, said the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly.
Although police feared for hours that at least one other sniper was involved and on the run, the official said Johnson is now believed to be the lone gunman. At least three others who were detained by police as possible suspects may have no connection with the attack or Johnson, the official said.
Johnson, who served six years in the U.S. Army Reserve, including an eight-month tour in Afghanistan, opened fire late Thursday on police marshaling demonstrators peacefully protesting recent police-involved shootings of African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
An undated handout image released by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Police shows DART police officer Brent Thompson at an undisclosed location. Police identified Thompson as one of the five officers killed in shooting in downtown Dallas July 7, 2016. h (Photo: DART via EPA)
As shots range out, and several police officers went down, protesters and bystanders scrambled or fell to the pavement. Two civilians were also wounded in the melee.
The gunman was eventually chased into a building lot where negotiators talked to him for almost an hour, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said.
"The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter," Brown said, referring to the grassroots activist group. "He said he was upset about the recent police shootings. He said he was upset at white people. He said he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers."
Brown said the suspect was not affiliated with any other groups "and stated that he did this alone."
After talks broke down, the heavily armed gunman was killed by police using a robot-controlled explosive device, Brown said. A law enforcement official told USA TODAY that a rifle and a handgun were recovered from the scene where Johnson died.
The front page of Friday's Dallas Morning News following Thursday's shootings downtown. pic.twitter.com/ExIlxEMA9V— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) July 8, 2016
The killings marked the deadliest day for U.S. law officers since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks on-duty deaths. Three of the injured officers were in critical condition undergoing surgery Friday morning.
USA TODAY
The last major ambush targeting police occurred at a coffee shop in Lakewood, Wash., on Nov. 29, 2009, when a gunman walked in and opened fire on four city police officers working on their laptop computers as they prepared for their work shifts. All four were killed. The gunman later died two days later in a shootout with police.
"Our profession is hurting," Brown said Friday morning. "Dallas officers are hurting. We are heartbroken."
"All I know is this must stop, this divisiveness must stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens," he added.
Brown also praised his officers, saying they "put themselves in harm's way to make sure citizens can get to a place of security."
This is downtown Dallas the morning after snipers opened fire on police officers during protests over the two recent fatal police shootings involving black men on July 8, 2016. Mei-Chun Jau, for USA TODAY
Brown said the ambush was highly organized, indicating the shooter probably knew the march route and "triangulated" the targets from "an elevated position."
'Run for your lives!'
Richard Adams, a bystander, said the protest was "a lovely, peaceful march," until they were walking down Commerce Street near the Bank of America building parking garage when he heard what sounded like "a bunch of firecrackers going off."
"Everybody just stopped — 'Run, run for your lives!' Women with children and babies and everybody was chaotically running," he told WFAA-TV. "And then, maybe I was a half a block away, calming down a little bit when we heard it again. ... There must have been five times tonight — whenever we thought we were safe, people said 'Run, people were shot!'"
Johnson, wearing heavy body armor and carrying multiple rounds of ammunition, was killed by a police-controlled remote explosive device about 45 minutes after authorities began trying to negotiate with him.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown said they saw no other option than to use a bomb robot. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
Brown said the suspect, who was holed up in the El Centro community college building, told negotiators, "the end is coming." He also said there were bombs in the area, but officers said none were found.
USA TODAY
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings called it a "heartbreaking morning."
"To say that our police officers put their life on the line every day is no hyperbole, ladies and gentlemen, it is a reality," he said. "We as a city, we as a country, must come together, lock arms and feel the wounds that we all feel from time to time."
Brown said his department monitored social media for signs of potential trouble and attended planning sessions ahead of the protest. Before shots rang out, the Dallas Police Department live-tweeted the protest, even posting photos of officers posing with demonstrators. Brown praised the "grit" of his police force as they responded to the mayhem after gunfire broke out.
Dominique Alexander, founder of the Next Generation Action Network and an organizer of the protest march, told The Dallas Morning News, "We want Dallas to know that violence of any kind we condemn."
"We continue to stand with the families of these officers and pray with them, as well as we stand with the families of Alton Sterling and Philando in Minnesota," the 27-year-old activist told the newspaper.
Alton Sterling, who is black, was killed by two police offices outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, La., earlier this week, and Philandro Castile, also black, was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop near St. Paul, Minn., the next day. Their killings prompted the Dallas protest march.
President Obama, in Poland for a NATO summit, called the shootings "a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement." He told reporters that anyone involved “in these senseless murders will be held fully accountable, justice will be done.”
In emotional remarks at an afternoon prayer service attended by thousands, Rawlings said the community must "attack" racial issues "head on."
"Can we speak against the actions of a relatively few officers who blemish the reputation of their high calling at at the same time, support and defend the 99% of officers who do their job professionally, honestly and bravely?" he asked.
"I think we can and I think we must," Rawlings said.
One of the slain officers was identified as Brent Thompson, 43, a Dallas transit police officer who recently married.
At Baylor hospital, where several officers staged a vigil for their fallen comrades, dozens of hospital personnel came out and linked arms to shield the grieving officers from the view of bystanders as two bodies were taken out.
DART grieving the loss of Ofc Brent Thompson, 43, killed during Thurs protest. First DART officer killed in line of duty. Joined DART 2009.— dartmedia (@dartmedia) July 8, 2016
Chaotic scene
Live video feeds from news organizations and reports from witnesses painted a picture of a chaotic scene, with police cars converging on a downtown building. Marchers protesting police shootings were moving down Lamar Street near Griffin when shots were fired.
One witness told The Dallas Morning News that he heard "what sounded like six to eight shots."
Theresa Williams told the Associated Press that the injured civilian was her sister, 37-year-old Shetamia Taylor. Williams said her sister was at the protests Thursday night with her four sons, ages 12 to 17.
When the shooting began, Taylor threw herself over her sons, Williams said. She was undergoing surgery early Friday after being shot in the right calf.
Friday classes were canceled at El Centro College, a community college of the Dallas County Community College District near where the shooting took place.
In Washington, Attorney General Loretta Lynch made brief remarks on what she called a "week of profound grief and heartbreaking loss," referring to both the incidents of police-involved shootings and the killings of five police officers in Dallas.
She said such events can create a sense of "helplessness of uncertainty and of fear"
"These feelings are justified," Lynch said. "But the answer must not be violence."
The attorney general called for "calm, peaceful, collaborative and determined action" on several fronts to build trust between local communities and law enforcement officers and to create equal justice under the law for all citizens.
She also said the country "must take a hard look at the ease with which wrongdoers can get their hands on deadly weapons and the frequency with which they use them."
Clinton, Trump issue statements
The two presumptive presidential candidates for the two major parties issued statements on the shootings.
Hillary Clinton, who postponed her first campaign appearance with Vice President Joe Biden, said in statement she "mourn(s) for the officers shot while doing their sacred duty to protect peaceful protesters, for their families & all who serve with them."
Donald Trump issued a statement saying the shootings were "a coordinated, premeditated assault on the men and women who keep us safe." He also referenced this week's police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota, saying "our nation has become too divided."
"This is a time, perhaps more than ever, for strong leadership, love and compassion. We will pull through these tragedies," he added.
Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook, Kevin Johnson, Greg Toppo, Jane Onyanga-Omara and Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY; WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth.
DALLAS POLICE AMBUSHED BY SNIPERU.S. attorney general calls for action, not violence | 1:44
Attorney General Loretta Lynch says these shootings can't be the "new normal." USA TODAY NETWORK
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