Five officers fatally shot during police protest in downtown Dallas

Five officers have been killed and at least six more injured in a hail of gunfire during a demonstration organized to protest this week’s police-involved shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana, Dallas police confirm.

Police Chief David Brown said perhaps up to six snipers ambushed law enforcement, striking 10 officers and a civilian.

“Working together with rifles, (they) triangulated at elevated positions in different points in the downtown area where the march ended up going,” Brown said.
SWAT officers corned one of the apparent shooters in a downtown parking garage for several hours until the suspect fatally shot himself about 2 a.m. local time, police said. The assailant, the chief said at an earlier news conference, had been very uncooperative.

“He has told our negotiators that the end is coming and he’s going to hurt and kill more of us — and that there are bombs all over the place in this garage and in downtown,” Brown said. Bomb dogs were searching the area, but no explosions had been reported by early Friday morning.

A woman and two men are in custody and being questioned for their possible involvement in the attack, the chief said.

“We still don’t have a complete comfort level that we have all the suspects,” Brown said during a 12:30 a.m. news conference.

Nor do authorities know what motivated the attack. The chief said members of the department had met with protest organizers several times before the event. The event had been peaceful with Black Lives Matter and police on site before shots rang.

“We have yet to determine whether or not there was some complicity with the planning of this, but we will be pursuing that,” he said.

Earlier in the evening, police published on social media a photo of a gun-toting man, with the message, “This is one of our suspects. Please help us find him!.” They later said the man had turned himself in, but it remained unclear early Friday if he has any connection to the rampage.
Witnesses agreed that the shooter or shooters ambushed officers from a multi-story parking garage.

“The cops had no idea who was shooting at them,” Jamal Johnson told KTVT-TV in Dallas. “Everyone knew it wasn’t a firework — it was an actual shot.”

The shooting broke out just hours after President Obama — reacting to the shootings deaths of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana this week — posted an emphatic message on Facebook calling upon all Americans to confront persistent racial disparities between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

“To admit we’ve got a serious problem in no way contradicts our respect and appreciation for the vast majority of police officers who put their lives on the line to protect us every single day,” he wrote. “It is to say that, as a nation, we can and must do better to institute the best practices that reduce the appearance or reality of racial bias in law enforcement.”

Downtown residents described the chaos on social media.

“I THINK A SHOOTOUT IS HAPPENING DOWNSTAIRS OH MY GOD,” a Twitter user named Allison posted moments before capturing the sound of rapid gunfire on video.