Dallas police say four officers have died after at least two snipers opened fire during protests downtown Thursday night.
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Brown said the shooters positioned themselves in two parking garages in downtown Dallas and “planned to injure and kill as many law enforcement officers as they could”.
Police are now investigating a parking garage near Commerce and Austin Streets in downtown Dallas as bystanders shelter in place, according to KTVT.
Police sealed off the city centre but later tweeted that primary and secondary sweeps for explosives were complete and no explosives had been found.
Among the officers killed was Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer Brent Thompson, 43, the agency said, adding he was the first DART officer killed in the line of duty. Dallas Police Chief David Brown said eleven officers and one civilian were shot from an elevated position.
NBC News said the suspect told police “the end is coming”.
This Facebook Live video shows officers taking cover as many rounds are fired.
The initial search for a gunman stretched throughout central Dallas – an area of hotels, restaurants, businesses and some residential apartments – in a chaotic scene involving helicopters and armed officers on the street corners.
It also drew a comparison with the November day in 1963 when a USA president was slaughtered by a sniper on a Dallas street only a few blocks away. He was a transit officer who joined the department in 2009 and got married to a fellow officer just two weeks ago. It was tap tap pause.
Mr Brown said police do not yet have a motive for the attacks or any information on the suspects. “These suspects have threatened to plant a bomb in the downtown area”, he said.
Philando Castile, 32, was shot dead by a police officer at a traffic stop near Minneapolis on Thursday after being pulled over for a broken taillight.
Police were still not certain they knew all of the individuals involved in the attack, Rawlings said.
Police said three other people in custody, two from inside the Mercedes and another woman detained near a downtown garage.
Another person was taken into custody after a shootout.
“Give our officers strength to catch these suspects and bring them to justice tonight”, Brown said.
We have crews at the scene and we’ll have more on this as it develops. The brother, Corey Hughes, said he was one of the organizers of the protest.
Shooters killed five officers at a protest over police violence in downtown Dallas, sending screaming crowds scrambling for shelter and spurring an investigation into who was behind the ambush. The statement says “our hearts are broken”. Both of those shootings – in which black men were killed during encounters with law enforcement – have prompted rebukes from civil-rights leaders and elected officials across the country.
Ms Williams said her sister was at the protests with her four sons, aged 12 to 17.
“In times like this, we must remember – and emphasize – the importance of uniting as Americans”, he said.
Mayor Rawlings advised people to stay away on Friday morning as police combed the area where large areas have been cordoned off and transport halted.
Hundreds of people gathered in Union Square Park in Manhattan and took to the streets to protest the recent police-related shootings of two black men. Rabb said that between 5 and 6 officers were gravely wounded.
A suspect in shootings that killed five Dallas police officers has died after a tense standoff with police in a downtown garage, USA media reported, citing law enforcement sources.
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Obama said the FBI was in contact with the Dallas Police Department and that the federal government would provide any assistance to Dallas as it deals with the incident.
