The Big Conversation
Downtown Dallas erupted into chaos late Thursday night when at least five police officers were shot and killed and another six were injured by two snipers who interrupted a march organized in protest of recent police-involved shootings in other cities.
As WFAA reports, shots were fired downtown before 9 p.m. As of a 12:30 a.m. news conference, the Dallas Police Department had one suspect in custody after a shoot-out and officers were negotiating with another suspect in a parking garage. According to police, the second “suspect told negotiators ‘the end was coming,’ that he’s ‘going to hurt and kill more of us’ (meaning law enforcement), and that there were bombs planted all over the garage and downtown.”
The motive for the shooting was unclear early Friday morning.
The march, otherwise peaceful, was one of many in cities across the country organized Thursday to protest the shootings of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, who each died at the hands of police this week in Louisiana and Minnesota, respectively.
Richard Adams told WFAA that the Dallas protest was “a lovely, peaceful march” before the shots rang out — what he said sounded like “a bunch of firecrackers going off.”
“Everybody just stopped — ‘Run, run for your lives!’” he told WFAA.
As law enforcement responded to the shooting, state officials responded to the violence with sorrow and disbelief, the Tribune’s Johnathan Silver writes. Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement that “our thoughts and prayers” were with Dallas law enforcement and the victims. “In times like this we must remember — and emphasize — the importance of uniting as Americans,” he wrote.
Abbott later announced that in addition to offering state assistance to the city of Dallas, he was cutting short an out-of-state trip and traveling there.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also released a statement early Friday morning in which he said, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to these officers and their families, and to those who have been injured. My office is in close contact with the local authorities on the ground and we will be offering to provide whatever support we can to help in assisting the victims and bringing the perpetrators to justice.”
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