Outside New York Police Department headquarters, officers stood at attention as an American flag was lowered to half-staff to honor the five officers killed and seven wounded on Thursday in Dallas during a protest over fatal police shootings of black men.
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The department also said in a statement Friday that detectives have interviewed more than 200 members of law enforcement and that “it appears at least 12 officers” fired their weapons when someone opened fired on police Thursday night. Authorities initially said three suspects were in custody and the fourth dead.
Authorities did not release his name but Rick Zamarripa, told The Washington Post his son, Patrick Zamarripa, was killed in the shooting Thursday night.
President Barack Obama said America is “horrified” by the shootings, which have no possible justification.
Military records show he was a U.S. Navy veteran who had been deployed to Bahrain as part of the Iraq War effort.
“Please join me in applauding these courageous men and women who do this job under great scrutiny, under great vulnerability who literally risk their lives to protect our democracy”, said Dallas police Chief David Brown.
Two executives at robotic companies told CNN this is the first time a police robot has been involved in a civilian’s death.
Mayor Rawlings advised people to stay away on Friday morning as police sort through the area where large areas have been cordoned off and transport halted.
The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area is one of the nation’s most populous and is home to more than 7 million people. It happened during a demonstration to protest the recent killings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota.
Anger has intensified when the officers involved in such incidents have been acquitted in trials or not charged at all. His girlfriend posted live video on the internet of the bloody scene minutes afterward, which was widely viewed.
The suspect described his motive during negotiations and said he acted alone and was not affiliated with any groups, Mr Brown said.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and officials in Texas said Friday afternoon that it appeared the attacker did not have accomplices, although Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stressed that authorities still needed to “button down every corner”. An award-winning soldier, the 25-year-old Johnson was killed early Friday in a parking garage by a bomb-carrying police robot after an hours-long standoff with law enforcement that included an exchange of gunfire.
“We are being very careful in our tactics so that we do not injure any of our officers or put them in harm’s way”.
“The fact that everybody wants to have guns, I just don’t fully get it. A lot of people have guns to defend their houses, but to me it doesn’t make a lot of sense”, he said. The shootings happened a few blocks from Dealey Plaza, the landmark made famous by President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
The directive in Chicago came after officers working overnight there heard dispatchers broadcast a message urging them to “use extreme caution” after the Dallas attack.
One of the officers killed has been identified.
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Brent Thompson, a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer killed during unrest overnight in Dallas, was the first officer killed in that agency’s line of duty.
