DALLAS (Diya TV) — The shooting ambush that left five Dallas law enforcement officers dead and seven more injured Thursday night was “a well-planned, well thought out, evil tragedy,” the city’s police chief said today.
“Through our investigation of some of the suspects, it’s revealed to us that this was a well-planned, well thought out, evil tragedy by these suspects,” Chief David Brown said. “And we won’t rest until we bring everyone to justice.”
Brown said earlier, “We’re hurting. Our profession is hurting. Dallas officers are hurting. We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city.”
Three suspects in total — two men and one woman — have been detained by police for their involvement in the shootings, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said. Officials earlier said that at least two gunmen were involved.
Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, was identified as one of the suspects, according to multiple reports. Johnson died overnight in the incident. Police said that Johnson told hostage negotiators that he was angry about the recent fatal shootings of black men by police around the nation, and that he wanted to kill white people as revenge, especially police officers.
Johnson “expressed anger for Black Lives Matter” and told a hostage negotiator he “wanted to kill [police] officers,” Brown said today.
Police spent hours negotiating with Johnson before he was ultimately killed by an explosive that was strapped to a police robot.
Johnson previously served as an Army reservist until April of last year, according to defense officials. He trained and served in the Army Reserve as a carpentry and masonry specialist, the officials added. Johnson deployed to Afghanistan from November 2013 to July 2014, according to his service record. He had the rank of a private first class.
Among the five officers killed was a newlywed who married just two weeks ago to a fellow officer. Another of the victims was a father to a toddler daughter. And another was formerly a police officer in Michigan.
One of the slain was Dallas police officer Patrick Zamarripa. His father posted on Facebook,”My son is a police officer in Dallas he was working there the rally in downtown where my son was shot and killed by a sniper along with four other police officers. …”Need prayers to get through this.”
U.S. President Barack Obama called the event a “vicious, calculated, despicable attack” while speaking to reporters this morning in Warsaw, Poland. He described the killings as a “tremendous tragedy” and “senseless murders.”
“We will learn more about their twisted motivations,” Obama said of the suspects. “Let’s be clear: There is no possible justification.”
Additionally, two civilians were injured in the mayhem, which occurred as people demonstrated in downtown Dallas after the fatal shootings of two black men by police in different states, Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, both of which were shot and killed this week. The Department of Justice is currently investigating the death of the former.
The ambush erupted shortly before 9 p.m. Central Time on Thursday, when at least two snipers from elevated positions began firing at police officers who were at the demonstration, officials said.
MANY gunshots heard in video I captured in #Dallas, just before 9p as rally marched through downtown @wfaachannel8 pic.twitter.com/1O3GB0b9xx
— Marie Saavedra (@MSaavedraTV) July 8, 2016
