Furthermore, police are now looking for clues to understand the meaning of the letters “RB”, written by Johnson in blood (from his wounds) on a garage wall, where the suspect had held under siege by officers for almost five hours.
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Brown also revealed other new details about the night of carnage, and how the city’s streets were turned into a war zone as 11 officers exchanged fire with Johnson as he killed five cops and wounded seven more cops and two civilians.
During negotiations, Brown said Johnson asked how many officers were killed.
Police in Dallas were also questioned over their decision to use a bomb mounted on a robot to kill the gunman while he was holed up after killing the five officers.
More than 200 people were arrested in chaotic scenes during a new night of protests over USA police violence towards blacks as authorities yesterday revealed that the Dallas shooter had apparently been plotting a major bomb attack. He said nine officers, including two El Centro police officers, were injured.
The wider crime scene includes the parking garage where Johnson was killed and at least two other sites where he is believed to have fired at officers.
Brown said Johnson was apparently shot and wounded while running to refuge. “We’re trying to figure out what those initials mean”.
Johnson, 25, who acted alone, was killed by remotely detonated explosives that were sent into a auto park where he had taken refuge after the shootings.
Funeral services for three of the slain officers have been set for this week, the Dallas Police Department said.
His Facebook page showed Johnson with his first in the air, a symbolic gesture associated with the Black Power movement of 1960s African- American activists and that he was interested in the New Black Panther Party, a militant group considered racist and anti-Semitic that believes in armed resistance against white society.
Brown believes that the police-involved shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn., may have led Johnson “to fast-track his plans”, and unleash terror on what had been a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas.
After he was accused of sexual harassment, he was sent back to the USA and the military recommended he be dishonorably discharged, or a similar punishment, in September 2014. Authorities are now looking through Johnson’s writings and possessions to try to figure out what those apparent initials mean. He told USA Today, “The key thing is to keep our police out of harm’s way, and this was able to do that and accomplish the tactical objectives we had”.
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“There is a heightened sense of awareness around threats we’ve received all over the country”, Brown said.
