4 Dallas Officers Killed at Protest Over Shootings by Police

DALLAS , JULY 7, 2016— Four Dallas police officers were killed and seven others were wounded by snipers on Thursday night during a demonstration protesting shootings by officers in Minnesota and Louisiana this week, said Chief David O. Brown of the Dallas police.

The police believe four suspects coordinated the attack with rifles, he said, and positioned themselves in strategic locations near the route the protesters planned to take. The police had three people in custody and were negotiating in the early-morning hours with a fourth, who was in a garage in downtown Dallas at El Centro, a community college.

That suspect had exchanged gunfire with the police and was being uncooperative in talks, Chief Brown said at a news conference in the lobby of City Hall.

The suspect “has told our negotiators that the end is coming and he’s going to hurt and kill more of us, meaning law enforcement, and that there are bombs all over the place in this garage and downtown,” Chief Brown said.

“We are being very careful in our tactics so that we don’t injure or put any of our officers in harm’s way, including the citizens of Dallas, as we negotiate further,” he added.

The three other suspects are a woman who was taken from the garage and two others who were taken in for questioning after a traffic stop.

Chief Brown said the shooting had been carried out by snipers who fired down on a demonstration in the city’s downtown area that until that point had been peaceful.

They “planned to injure and kill as many law enforcement officers as they could,” Chief Brown said.

“Some were shot in the back,” the chief said. “We believe that these suspects were positioning themselves in a way to triangulate on these officers.” He said that three of the dead were Dallas police officers and that one was from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit force.

Courtesy : TheNewyorkTimes