Dallas Police Chief David Brown on Sunday defended his department’s decision to use a robot rigged with a bomb to take down a suspected sniper believed to have shot dead at least five police officers last Thursday.
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Johnson, who was an Army veteran described as a “loner”, reportedly insisted on speaking with a black negotiator and wrote the letters “RB” among other markings in his own blood on the wall of a parking garage. Authorities are now looking through Johnson’s writings and possessions to try to figure out what those apparent initials mean.
The fact that Johnson had material for explosives and talked of using homemade bombs during the standoff with police indicated he could have inflicted more damage with more time, Jenkins said.
The shootings followed protests of the police killings of two more black men: A Minnesota officer on Wednesday fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a vehicle with a woman and a child, and the shooting’s aftermath was livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video.
The shootings came amid a protest over the fatal police shootings of two black men in Louisiana and Minnesota this week.
Police officers searched headquarters and grounds for a person of interest, but nobody was located. Police say Micah Johnson, donning a protective vest and carrying a military-style semiautomatic rifle, was bent on exterminating white police officers.
Both Rawlings and Brown praised the work of police officers, some of whom stepped into the line of fire during the chaotic attack to determine the location of the shooter, the chief said.
‘Without our actions, he would have hurt more officers’.
“They’re crying with us too and they’re letting us know if you need anything we’re here for you”, said Officer Shawna Alvarez.
A large part of downtown Dallas remained closed Saturday as investigators began a second day of piecing together the details of the attack, an investigation that has included more than 200 interviews.
Mr Brown said rambling journals Johnson had written showed he had “some delusion”. “Whenever those of us who are concerned about failures of the criminal justice system attack police, you are doing a disservice to the cause”, the United States” first black president told a news conference.
Shaw was struck by a bullet as he guarded an entrance to the college, the statement said.
Abbott was also guarding the entrance.
Police kept a number of streets around El Centro College, where Johnson had holed up, stretched with yellow crime scene tape over the weekend.
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The K9 unit was conducting a secondary search of the garage, while police snipers could also be seen positioned on neighbouring buildings.
