“We talked to this man a long time, and he threatened to blow up our police officers, we went to his home we saw that there was bomb-making equipment later”, Rawlings said on CBS” Face the Nation.
Advertisement
The deaths in Baton Rouge and St. Paul were the latest in a series of high-profile and controversial killings of black men by police in cities including New York, Ferguson, Missouri, Chicago and Baltimore.
The chief and the county’s most senior elected official also said Micah Johnson had larger attack plans and possessed enough explosive material to inflict far greater harm.
Activists with Black Lives Matter, whose peaceful march police were guarding as he opened fire, repudiated the shootings, and it wasn’t immediately clear if Johnson had any connection to the movement, which has disavowed violence. The robot, which was attached to about a pound of C4 explosive, likely saved more police officers from being killed, Brown said.
“We knew through negotiations this was the suspect because he was asking us how many did he get and he told us how many more he wanted to kill”, Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters on Monday. “We are all on edge and being very careful”, he said.
People visit a growing memorial at the Dallas police department’s headquarters near the active crime scene in downtown Dallas following the deaths of five police officers on Thursday evening on July 9, 2016. He was killed after several of negotiation failed and the police sent in a bomb carrying robot and detonated it. Police say they saw no other option. I have been the first to say, we need to separate employment with those types of cops – 1% or 2%. Through tears, Johnson said, “I hate what he did”.
Investigators are trying to decipher the writing by looking through evidence from Johnson’s suburban Dallas home, Brown said. It was purchased in 2008 for $151,000 (136,000 euros) and was still functional, Brown said.
Brown said the gunman was only willing to negotiate with a black police officer during the standoff. State Police Commissioned Officers will be proactive to make certain that all citizens are treated with respect.
The year before Brown became the chief, USA Today reported there were 147 excessive-force complaints against officers and through November 2015, only 13 had been filed.
Advertisement
Evidence markers and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents litter the streets, and the Dallas police chief says there is still a lot that needs to be done.
