MORE: Powerful images in the wake of Dallas shootingDallas Police Chief David Brown said that overnight standoff ended when police detonated an explosive about four hours after the attack began. An 11th officer was shot during an exchange of gunfire with one of the suspects, authorities said. “We are thoroughly investigating”.
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The shooting took place during a protest of fatal police shootings in other parts of the country, officials said.
A Phoenix councilman had called for the protest to be delayed, and Maupin says the Police Department asked him to cancel the event.
Demonstrations were held in several other US cities Thursday night to protest the police killings of two more black men: A Minnesota officer on Wednesday fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a auto with a woman and a child, the shooting’s aftermath livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video. Chief Mina said threats have been made against the department Friday morning. A police officer looks up while standing behind a vehicle, as police responded to shots being fired during a protest over recent fatal shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, Thursday, July 7, 2. MORE: Dallas officers who were killed or injured in shootingPresident Barack Obama made an official statement about the tragedy in Texas Friday morning, where he is attending a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Poland.
He said he was “horrified” by the “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement”.
Three other people were in custody – a woman, whose connection to the shooting was not immediately clear, and two people who sped away from the scene after a Dallas police officer spotted them throwing camouflage bags into a vehicle, Brown said.
Five law enforcement officials have died while seven others, including at least one civilian, were injured after snipers opened fire with rifles Thursday night in Dallas, Texas near an anti-brutality march held following the recent police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Dallas police are telling people to get off the streets of downtown.
(Maria R. Olivas/The Dallas Morning News via AP).
“Oh my God, there’s people laying on the ground, I hope they are OK”, said one of the individuals recording from the scene. Witnesses said the shooting went on for close to 45 minutes.
The shooting began Thursday evening while hundreds of people were gathered to protest the killings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota. The demonstration was to protest two fatal police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week.
The 32-year-old was shot four times by an officer after being stopped for a broken tail light.
DART identified that officer as Brent Thompson, 43. Five officers were killed.
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Mayor Mike Rawlings says a total of 12 police officers and two civilians were shot during a protest march in downtown Dallas. Brown told reporters the snipers fired “ambush style” upon the officers. “Today is a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices that they make for us”, Obama said. “Officer down.” He also said the gunshots “Sounded like an AK-47 going off”.
