Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas Thursday evening, killing five officers and injuring six others during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men.
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The shootings took place at 8:45pm local time on Thursday amid one of several demonstrations across the U.S. against the killings earlier this week of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana.
The Dallas shooting happened as otherwise largely peaceful protests unfolded around the United States after the shooting of Philando Castile, 32, by police near St. Paul, Minnesota, late Wednesday.
Chaos erupted in downtown Dallas on Thursday night after multiple police officers were shot and killed during a Black Lives Matter protest.
Declaring it an “active crime scene” Dallas Police Chief David Brown said that authorities will likely ask some people to stay away from downtown Dallas on Friday. “The suspect stated that he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers”. The police chief said the dead suspect had declared before his death that he was upset about recent shootings and wanted to kill whites. Police say they were called to the store Tuesday after an anonymous caller said Sterling had threatened someone with a gun, where they had some type of altercation with the man and one officer fatally shot him around 12:35 am.
President Barack Obama, while in Poland, said he had spoken to Rawlings and expressed his “deepest condolences” on behalf of the American people.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks on-duty deaths, said it was the deadliest day for US police since September 11.
A person of interest whose picture was circulated on social media first by Dallas Police has turned himself in. It is first reported that nine Dallas Police and one DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) officer are shot, along with one civilian – a mother of three boys, one she reportedly shielded after being hit.
Another suspect reportedly told police “the end is coming” and there are bombs “across the city”. Two civilians were also wounded, Rawlings said. “So if there’s someone out there who’s associated with this, we will find you, we will prosecute you, and we will bring you to justice”.
Three people were in custody and one suspect was dead in the wake of the shooting.
Investigators are calling last night’s ambush on officers a “well-coordinated attack” on police.
“In times like this we must remember – and emphasize – the importance of uniting as Americans”, Abbott said.
Scores of police officers arrived downtown following the shooting, which took place about 9 p.m. near Main and Market streets and a block from the Old Red Courthouse building.
Both incidents were captured on video, reigniting what has become a national debate.
The following day another video – which was live streamed on Facebook – claimed to show the aftermath of police shooting Philando Castile in his vehicle in Minnesota. She was undergoing surgery early Friday after being shot in the right calf.
“Working together with rifles, (they) triangulated at elevated positions from different points in the downtown area where the march ended up going”, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said.
IT was one of the touching tributes that emerged in the aftermath of the fatal Dallas police shooting.
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According to the Dallas Morning News, he joined the department in 2009.
