Much of downtown Dallas was in lockdown early Friday after snipers shot 11 officers, five fatally, during a protest over deadly police shootings of black men elsewhere in the country.
Three people were in custody and a fourth suspect exchanged gunfire with authorities in a parking garage at El Centro Community College into the morning, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said.
NBC Dallas Fort-Worth reported the fourth suspect had been "neutralized" at around 2:45 a.m. (3:45 ET). Earlier, he had told police negotiators that "the end is coming" and that "there are bombs all over the place in this garage and downtown," Brown said.
Extensive sweeps of downtown for explosives were underway in the early hours and the FAA ordered a temporary flight restriction over the city. "I believe I speak for every single American when I say that we are horrified over these events and that we stand united with the people and the police
department in Dallas," the president said. In what Brown described as "ambush-style" shooting, at least two snipers fired from an elevated positions on police officers minutes before 9 p.m. local time
"We believe that these suspects were positioning themselves in a way to triangulate on these officers from two different perches in garages in the downtown area, and planned to injure and kill as many law enforcement officers as they could," he told a news conference — noting that some were shot in the back.
There may be other suspects at large. "We still don't have a complete comfort level that we have all the suspects," Brown said. Police were in contact with the FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Brown said. "There had to be some speculation from us there would be some knowledge of the [demonstration] route," he said.
The search for shooters and clues stretched across hotels, restaurants, businesses and some residential apartments. The scene was chaotic, withhelicopters hovering overhead and officers with automatic rifles on the street corners.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state Department of Public Safety to offer any assistance needed. "In times like this we must remember — and emphasize — the importance of uniting as Americans," Abbott said in a statement.
Brown said investigators are working under the assumption that all the suspects were working together. They have not been cooperative, he said. "We just are not getting the cooperation we'd like to know that answer of why, the motivation, who they are." Four of the five slain officers were Dallas police, and the fifth was a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer. A civilian was also wounded, authorities said. Around 800 people were at the demonstration, and around 100 police officers were assigned to the event and the surrounding area, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said. The shooting occurred after the demonstration ended and as a march was taking place.
"At 8:58, our worst nightmare happened," Rawlings said. "It is a heartbreaking moment for the city of Dallas, Rawlings said. A person at the protest said they were "making our second lap" when gunfire
erupted.
"We heard shots, we smelled gunpowder, and that's when everything got really intense and surreal," the witness told MSNBC. "We just started to run and grab kids," he said. A DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) police officer receives comfort at Baylor University Hospital emergency room entrance on July 7, 2016 in Dallas, Texas.
The demonstration was in reaction to the police shootings of two black men, Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge Tuesday and Philando Castile Wednesday in a St. Paul suburb. Thursday night, Dallas police distributed a photo of a man they called a "person of interest." The person in that photo turned himself in, police said. It does not appear he was part of the four suspects later mentioned by Brown.
The attacks reverberated around the country, with officials and fellow police departments expressing condolences and newspapers shock. Attorney General Kamala Harris said the shootings in Dallas were "a grave reminder of the dangers our law enforcement officers face each day in service of their communities." "I pray for the officers who lost their lives tonight, for their grieving families and our law enforcement brothers and sisters in Dallas," she added in a statement. The demonstration in Dallas was one of several held in cities across the country.
In Saint Paul, Minnesota, a crowd estimated to be more than a thousand strong gathered outside a school where one of those men killed, Philando Castile, workedas a kitchen supervisor. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana mourners gathered in a "second line" parade for Alton Sterling, who was killed by police on Tuesday in an incident that was recorded on video by a bystander. The Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into that shooting.
"It can be any brother or sister out here. This ain't just started; they've been killing us," Chermicka Brown, a friend of Sterling's who joined protesters outside the store where he was shot, told NBC affiliate WVLA in Baton Rouge.
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