As it stands now, police in Dallas are locked in a standoff [see article update below for more developing news on this] early Friday morning after snipers shot 11 officers, killing 5, during a mostly peaceful demonstration over the recent police killings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Falcon Heights, Minneapolis.
According to NBC News, “at least two snipers” fired from an elevated positions on police officers just before 9 p.m. CT. Dallas Police Chief David Brown described the shootings as “ambush style.”
“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,” Brown said at a news conference.
NBC News reports that police were locked in a standoff with “one suspect in the second floor of a parking garage at around 12:30 a.m. and had exchanged gunfire with him.”
Another suspect, a woman, was taken into custody near the garage, and two people leaving the area in a Mercedes were stopped and were questioned. Reports from CNN, however, say 3 suspects are in custody.
The suspect in the standoff with police “has told our negotiators that the end is coming, and he is 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,” Brown said.
…
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.
Video purportedly of shooting in #Dallas pic.twitter.com/ZgQgdTGN36
— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) July 8, 2016
https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/751318644135649281
RAW VIDEO: Our cameras captured the panic after the first shots were fired in downtown #Dallas Thursday nighthttps://t.co/JXcapjFIHv
— WFAA (@wfaa) July 8, 2016
https://twitter.com/realMatthewWood/status/751265307323277314
UPDATE: 1 officer dead, up to 6 wounded in shooting during demo in Dallas pic.twitter.com/CxBKUxYzf4 https://t.co/fLXfAFXGGI
— RT (@RT_com) July 8, 2016
Brown said that the suspects must have had previous knowledge of the route the demonstration would take. He added that investigators are operating under the assumption that the suspects worked together as a team.
Four of the five officers killed were Dallas police, and the fifth was a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer. A civilian was also wounded.
[Update]
According to local news sources, the suspect in the standoff has shot himself.
From the Independent:
A suspect in the Dallas police shootings has reportedly shot himself after an hours-long standoff with officers in a garage.
Police chief David Brown said the suspect had threatened to kill more police and was alternating between exchanging gunfire with officers and attempting negotiations.
Journalists at the scene of the garage next to El Centro college reported Swat teams were standing down, and several US media outlets reported the suspect had been “neutralized”.
Working to confirm Fox report that the standoff suspect in Dallas is dead
— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) July 8, 2016
Update, 12:56pm PST, 7/8/16: Please see our latest article with the latest updates on this story here.
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