Dallas police chief David Brown told CNN Sunday that the gunman, identified as Micah Johnson, left behind a message, written in his own blood, at the scene where he was killed.
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In taking personal responsibility for approving the plan in the aftermath of Thursday’s attack, Chief David Brown said he was convinced that the gunman would have sought to harm other police officers if he had hesitated to give the go-ahead.
He was killed after a two-hour stand-off with police negotiators who were trying to persuade him to surrender, by an explosive device placed near him by a “bomb robot”.
Emotions “I don’t know what to say to anybody to make anything better”. “We’re trying to figure out through looking at things in his home what those initials mean”, Chief Brown said.
Dallas County Chief Executive Judge Clay Jenkins said Johnson had been planning and training, and took advantage of the protest because of the high police presence.
Emergency-room caregivers are used to dealing with trauma, but the situation rocked some “to their core that I thought were unshakable”, said Dr. Alex Eastman. But after six years as a US Army reservist, including a seven-month Afghanistan deployment, something changed.
Brown said he is “running on fumes” as the department investigates the shooting with the help of federal agents and regional law-enforcement agencies.
“Speaking to CBS” Face the Nation, Rawlings defended the police’s use of a bomb to end the standoff, noting Johnson had been given the opportunity to surrender.
Rawlings said authorities felt added urgency because Johnson “threatened to blow up our police officers”, noting that bomb-making materials were later found in Johnson’s home.
Micah Johnson opened fire at police officers Thursday evening, during a Black Lives Matter march protesting the killings of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, by police officers last week. “This wasn’t some novice”, Brown said.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings reiterated his support of the decision to use the robot, saying it was ultimately “the safest way to approach it”. It was purchased in 2008 for $151,000 (136,000 euros) and was still functional, Brown said.
In Baton Rouge, where one of the two killings occurred last week, more than 100 protesters were also arrested, local media reported citing police, among them the activist leader DeRay McKesson who live-streamed the incident.
Out of all the crap we have to take as police officers, the satisfaction you get with serving is much more gratifying…It’s like that for a lot of police officers in this country.
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Both President Obama and former President George W. Bush are scheduled to appear today in Dallas at a memorial service for the fallen officers.
