On this date, July 7, 2016, Ex-US Army soldier Micah
Xavier Johnson shoots fourteen policemen
during an anti-police protest in downtown Dallas, Texas,
killing five of them. He is subsequently killed by a robot-delivered bomb. Let
us remember the Five Dallas Policemen shot dead. We will not forget them. We
will post information about the case from Wikipedia.
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| Our thoughts and
prayers are with Dallas after the deadliest day for law enforcement since 9/11.
Learn about the five officers who died in the line of duty: http://abc7ne.ws/29san9p [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/abc7news/photos/a.154843737078.141791.57427307078/10154379685817079/?type=3&theater] |
2016
shooting of Dallas police officers
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Location
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Date
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July
7–8, 2016
8:58 p.m. – 2:30 a.m. (CT) |
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Target
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White
police officers in Dallas
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Attack type
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Weapons
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Deaths
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6
(including the perpetrator)
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Injuries
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11
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Perpetrator
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Micah
Xavier Johnson
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Motive
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Anger
about recent police shootings of African Americans, racial
hatred
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On July 7,
2016, Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed and fired upon a group of police officers in Dallas, Texas, killing five
officers and injuring nine others. Two civilians were also wounded. Johnson was
an Army Reserve Afghan War veteran who was angry
over police shootings of black
men and stated that he wanted to kill white
people, especially white police officers. The shooting happened at the end
of a protest against the police killings of Alton Sterling in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana,
and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, which had
occurred in the preceding days.
Following the
shooting, Johnson fled inside a building on the campus of El
Centro College. Police followed him there, and a standoff ensued. In the
early hours of July 8, police killed Johnson with a bomb attached to a
remote control bomb disposal robot. It was the first time U.S. law enforcement used a robot to kill a
suspect.
The shooting
was the deadliest incident for U.S. law enforcement since the September 11, 2001 attacks, surpassing two related March 2009
shootings in Oakland, California, and a November 2009
ambush shooting in Lakewood, Washington, and a 2009 shooting of Pittsburgh
police officers.
Background
A protest was organized in Dallas by the
Next Generation Action Network in response to the killings of two men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, by police officers
in Louisiana and Minnesota, respectively, days before. The Dallas protest was
one of several held across the United States on the night of July 7. Around 800
protesters were involved, and around 100 police officers were assigned to
protect the event and the surrounding area. Before the shooting occurred, no
other incidents were reported. About 20 to 30 open-carry gun rights activists joined the
protest march, some wearing gas masks, bulletproof
vests, and fatigues, according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown.
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Map
of events.
1. Johnson parks SUV and fires towards Main Street 2. Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens, Officer Patrick Zamarippa, and Officer Michael Krol are killed. Several other officers and a civilian were injured. 3. Johnson chases down and kills DART Police Officer Brent Thompson. 4. Johnson attempts but fails to enter the college. 5. Johnson enters the college from Elm Street (location unknown) 6. Johnson goes to second floor, runs into a dead end, and shoots towards a 7-Eleven. 7. 7-Eleven where Sergeant Michael Smith is shot and killed. |
Events
Most of the events happened in the
streets and buildings around El
Centro College, which forms a city block composed of multiple buildings.
The block is bordered by Main Street on the south where the protest march was
taking place; Lamar Street to the east from where Johnson initiated the
shooting spree; and Elm Street to the north where Johnson eventually entered
the college.
Main Street shootings
Around
8:58 p.m. Johnson parked his SUV sideways on Lamar Street, in front of the
east entrance to the college, at Building A, and left the vehicle hazard lights
blinking. At the time, the street had been cleared out in anticipation of the
protest. Taking cover at street level, he began shooting at groups of police
and protesters who were gathered on Main Street. Johnson was believed to have
talked to three of the officers he shot before he first opened fire.
Three
officers were killed in the initial gunfire, while at least three others and a
civilian were injured. Eleven officers fired back. During the shooting,
officers, unaware where the shots were coming from, scrambled to block
intersections and were exposed to gunfire as a result.
Immediately
afterwards, Johnson made his way north on Lamar Street, encountering Officer
Brent Thompson along the way. A civilian recorded video of the encounter from
his hotel balcony on Lamar Street. The video showed Johnson, clad in tactical
clothing and armed with a rifle, loading his rifle and firing indiscriminately
to draw officers near his position. When Thompson approached a corner, Johnson
engaged him in a gunfight, forcing Thompson to take cover behind a concrete
pillar. Johnson fired towards one side of the pillar, then ran over to the
other side of the pillar to flank Thompson and shot him multiple times from
behind, killing him.
El Centro College shootout
Johnson, now
injured during the firefight, attempted to enter the Lamar Street entrance of
the college by shooting out the glass door but was unable to make his way in.
He wounded two campus police officers who were near the doorway inside the
building. One was shot in the stomach underneath his bulletproof
vest (with the bullet not being discovered until three weeks later), while the
other was hit by flying glass in the legs. Johnson then made his way to Elm
Street where he shot out another glass door and entered the college unseen; he
then made his way to Building B. Hearing the shattering glass, one of the
injured campus officers, Corporal Bryan Shaw, made his way through the building
and discovered a trail of blood leading to a stairwell. Accompanied by another
police officer, Shaw entered the stairwell and was met with a hail of gunfire
coming from above. Unable to see Johnson, he held his fire and retreated with
the other officer.
Afterwards,
Johnson made his way along a mezzanine between the school's second-floor dining
area and third-floor library, but came onto a dead end of windows facing down
onto Elm Street. He shot out multiple windows and fired repeatedly at officers
on Elm Street. He hit Michael Smith, a police officer standing in front of a 7-Eleven,
killing him and shattering the store-front glass. Officers began entering the
college, sealing escape routes from the building, and evacuating students and
teachers in the building, including those on a floor above Johnson, through a
different stairwell.
Approaching
Johnson on the second floor near the library, officers found him secured behind
a corner firing intermittently. He was in an area filled with offices and the
school's computer servers, with only two doors leading to where he was
positioned, and a hallway about 30 feet (9.1 m) long separating him from SWAT members. At least
200 gunshots were believed to have been fired by Johnson and SWAT officers in
that area during the standoff.
Standoff and shooter's death
Officers opened negotiations for
surrender but Johnson said he would speak to black police officers only.
Johnson stated that he had acted alone and was not part of any group. According
to Chief Brown, Johnson appeared delusional
during his standoff; "We had negotiated with him for about two hours, and
he just basically lied to us, playing games, laughing at us, singing, asking how
many did he get and that he wanted to kill some more." By about
2:30 a.m., Chief Brown saw no possibility of negotiating further and made
the decision to use a bomb disposal remote control vehicle armed with about 1
pound (0.45 kilograms) of C-4
explosive. The plan was to move the robot to a point against a wall facing
Johnson and then detonate the explosives. The robot exploded as intended,
killing Johnson immediately. The robot, while sustaining damage to its extended
arm, was still functional.
It was later discovered that Johnson
scrawled the letters "RB" in his own blood while in the college,
apparently after being wounded while making his way up a stairwell. The meaning
of "RB" and other markings made by Johnson was unclear, and
investigators subsequently attempted to discern its meaning.
Chief Brown said that during
negotiations, Johnson declared he had placed explosives in downtown Dallas. A
sweep of downtown Dallas found no presence of explosives.
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Five Policemen killed in the July 7, 2016
shooting
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Victims
Five officers
were killed, and nine others and two civilians were injured.
Most of the
victims were shot during the protests, and at least one other during a
shootout. The dead comprised four Dallas Police Department (DPD) officers
and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officer.
Four of the injured officers were from DPD, three were from DART, and two were
from El Centro College. Seven of the injured officers
were treated at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Two officers
underwent surgery. One civilian was shot in the back of the leg, breaking her
tibia.
The officers
killed were identified as:
- DPD Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens, age 48, who had been with the department since 2002.
- DPD Officer Michael Krol, 40, who had been with the department since 2007.
- DPD Sgt. Michael Smith, 55, a former Army Ranger who had been with the department since 1989.
- DART Officer Brent Thompson, 43, a former enlisted Marine who had been with the department since 2009. Thompson was the first DART officer to be killed in the line of duty since the department's inception in 1989.
- DPD Officer Patricio "Patrick" Zamarripa, 32, a former Navy sailor and Iraq War veteran who had been with the department since 2011.
This was the
deadliest single incident for law enforcement officers in the United States
since the September 11 attacks, surpassing two 2009
shootings in Lakewood,
Washington, and Oakland, California,
where four officers each were killed.
Perpetrator
Micah
Xavier Johnson
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Born
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c. 1991
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Died
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July 8,
2016 (aged 25)
Dallas,
Texas, U.S.
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Cause of death
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Blunt
trauma resulting from explosion
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Nationality
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American
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Occupation
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Motive
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Anger
about recent police shootings, racial
hatred
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Early life and education
Micah Xavier
Johnson (c. 1991 – July 8, 2016) was born in Mississippi
and raised in Mesquite, Texas. He once described his childhood as
"stressful" during a VA visit on August 15,
2014, but further details were redacted on the visit report. When he was four,
his parents divorced.
Johnson
transferred into John Horn High School when he was 17 and
participated in its Junior Reserve Officers'
Training Corps program, according to the Mesquite Independent School
District. He struggled academically, graduating in 2009 with a 1.98 grade-point average and a ranking of 430 out of
453 students in his class.
In the spring
of 2011, he enrolled in four classes at Richland
College, but never completed any of them. Investigators believed that
Johnson had access to El Centro College through his enrollment at
Richland, citing his pre-planned and coordinated movements throughout Building
B.
Military
service
Immediately
after high school, Johnson enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and served from March
2009 to April 2015 as a 12W carpentry
and masonry
specialist. He completed basic training, which required
qualification on handling of an M16 rifle
or M4
carbine, basic rifles for U.S. military personnel. According to Justin
Garner, a high-school friend and classmate who later served alongside Johnson
in the same unit, Johnson lacked proficiency in certain required technical
skills, such as marksmanship.
Johnson was activated at the rank of private first class in September 2013 in
support of the War in Afghanistan, where he was
deployed from November 2013 to July 2014 with the 420th Engineer Brigade.
People who
knew Johnson during his time in the Army described him as openly religious and
often socializing with white soldiers. A squad
leader, who trained Johnson in tactical maneuvers and protection in 2009
and 2010, described him as "klutzy", "goofy sometimes", and
"a nice guy", but also quiet and unmotivated. Documents released by
the Army on July 29 detailed early signs of disturbing behavior being exhibited
by him, but specific details were redacted. They also said that while Johnson
was sociable, he was generally described by soldiers as a loner who sometimes
ate his lunch in a vehicle alone while the rest of his unit ate outside
together.
Discharge
On May 1,
2014, during his deployment, he was accused of sexual
harassment by a female soldier, who sought a protective
order against him and said that he needed mental health counseling. The
accusation was made after the soldier reported four pairs of women's underwear
missing from her laundry bag. A "health and welfare inspection" of
soldiers' rooms found one pair in Johnson's quarters, while a soldier
discovered the remaining three in Johnson's pocket. Upon being confronted about
it, Johnson fled with the undergarments and attempted to dispose of them in a
nearby dumpster. He then lied that a female civilian acquaintance gave the
underwear to him, but the female soldier confirmed that they were in fact hers.
The female
soldier told investigators that she and Johnson had been platonic
friends for five years, but had stopped talking to each other. She described
their relationship as being tumultuous and involving fights and disagreements.
She specifically recalled one incident where Johnson punched out a car window
over her leaving for college and severed an artery, then forced her to bring
him to a hospital for treatment. However, Johnson claimed that he punched out
the window when the soldier missed a movie they planned to see together, and
added that he had been under stress from his job and turbulent home life at the
time.
According to
the soldier, Johnson asked her for a pair of her underwear before the May 1
incident, but she declined. Also, during a Facebook
conversation with her, Johnson mentioned "tying her down and having her
face down on the bed" but then claimed the statement was a joke. Though
she told him that rape was "never a joke" and to stop contacting her,
the soldier did not report him for harassment at the time because she was used
to that kind of rhetoric, as she was frequently around men at home and work.
Though the May 1 incident did not meet the Army's criteria for sexual
harassment, investigators found that Johnson's sexually suggestive comments to
the female soldier met said criteria.
Following the
inspection, he was disarmed under the recommendation of his platoon sergeant,
who felt he posed a potential threat. Another Army official later described the
action as unusual, as Johnson did not appear to be visibly agitated or a threat
to himself or others at the time. Johnson was then placed under 24-hour escort,
which was reportedly a shameful and ostracizing experience, before being
temporarily moved to Bagram Airfield on May 3, but he did not have
enough time to pack all of his belongings. While soldiers were emptying
Johnson's quarters and packing his belongings for him on May 14, they
discovered an unauthorized single M430I High Explosive Dual Purpose 40mm
grenade, a .50-caliber
round, and another soldier's prescription medication in his sleeping bag.
Later, the Army
sent Johnson back to the U.S., and according to the military lawyer
who represented Johnson at the time, the Army initiated proceedings to give
Johnson an "other than honorable"
discharge. The lawyer viewed this as "highly unusual" because written
reprimands are usually done before more drastic steps, and also because the
decision was based on a single sexual harassment allegation. On the advice of
his attorney, Johnson waived his right to a hearing in exchange for a more favorable
general discharge under honorable conditions. He
was honorably discharged in September 2014,
apparently as a result of an Army error. Johnson remained in the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), meaning he
could be recalled into the Army if needed, and was part of the IRR at the time
of his death.
Johnson
received the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with campaign
star, Army Achievement Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service
Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and NATO Medal
for his tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Some of
Johnson's fellow soldiers criticized the Army's handling of the case.
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An Army veteran “upset
about Black Lives Matter” and “recent police shootings” who opened
fire Thursday night in Dallas in an attack on police officers has been
identified by police as Micah
Xavier Johnson.
Five police officers
were killed and seven were wounded, officials said. Two civilians were also
wounded in the shootings, police said.
Johnson, 25, was killed
when a police robot
detonated a bomb near him following a standoff that lasted several hours,
Police Chief David Brown said Friday at a press conference.
“The suspect said he was
upset with white people and wanted to kill white people, especially white
officers,” Brown said.
Dallas Mayor Mike
Rawlings said Johnson was the lone gunman, though police initially said two
snipers positioned themselves in triangulated locations to fire on officers
from elevated positions. Rawlings said confusion during the incident led to the
belief there were multiple shooters.
“We believe now that the
city is safe, and we can move on to healing,” Rawlings said Friday evening.
Homeland Security
Director Jeh Johnson said there are no apparent ties to
international terrorism.
The gunfire began just
before 9 p.m. Thursday while a peaceful rally was held by Black Lives Matter in
response to recent controversial police killings of black men in Louisiana and
Minnesota.
The gunman was then cornered
in El Centro College in downtown Dallas.
Police said at least 12
officers fired their weapons during the incident.
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Motive
Chief Brown said that Johnson, who was black,
was upset about recent police shootings "stated he wanted to kill white
people, especially white officers." A friend and former coworker of
Johnson's described him as "always [being] distrustful of the
police." Another former coworker said he seemed "very affected"
by recent police shootings of black men. A friend said that Johnson had anger
management problems and would repeatedly watch video of the 1991 beating of
Rodney
King by police officers. Brown said that Johnson had told police
negotiators that he was upset about Black Lives Matter.
Investigators found no ties between Johnson and
international terrorist or domestic extremist groups.
An investigation into his online activities
uncovered his interest in black
nationalist groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and
news outlets reported that Johnson "liked" the Facebook pages of black
nationalist organizations such as the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), Nation
of Islam, and Black Riders Liberation Army, three groups which are listed
by the SPLC as hate groups. On Facebook, Johnson posted an angry and
"disjointed" post against white people on July 2, several days before
the attack.
NBPP head Quanell X
said after the shooting that Johnson had been a member of the NBPP's Houston chapter
for about six months, several years before. Quanell X added that Johnson had
been "asked to leave" the group for violating the organization's
"chain of command" and espousing dangerous rhetoric, such as asking
the NBPP why they had not purchased more weapons and ammunition, and expressing
his desire to harm black church preachers because he believed they were more
interested in money than God. Following the shooting, a national NBPP leader
distanced the group from Johnson, saying that he "was not a member
of" the party.
Johnson also "liked" the Facebook page of
the African American Defense League,
whose leader, Mauricelm-Lei Millere, called for the murders of police officers
across the U.S. following the fatal 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald. In
response to the police killing of Alton Sterling, the organization had
"posted a message earlier in the week encouraging violence against
police".
Johnson's Facebook profile photo depicted Johnson
raising his arm in a Black Power salute,
along with images of a Black Power symbol and a
flag associated with the Pan-Africanism
movement. These symbols have long represented nonviolent black empowerment,
"but have also been co-opted by extremist groups with racist views."
Conversely, people familiar with Johnson during his
military service believed he may have been severely stressed with serving in a
combat zone. They also said he had little interest in the topics of racial
injustice and the shooting of Trayvon Martin that occurred
at the time. In an interview, Johnson's parents said that he was once
extroverted and patriotic, and wanted to become a police officer. Following his
discharge from the Army, they described him as disillusioned, reclusive, and resentful
of the U.S. government; and believed he had been disappointed by his experience
in the military. According to a soldier, Johnson had a small breakdown after he
began losing his friends in the Army after details of the sexual harassment
accusation were released.
Before the
shooting
According to an
employment application made by Johnson seven months before his death, he worked
in a Jimmy
John's sandwich shop in north Dallas beginning in 2010, and took a position
as a quality assurance worker at a Garland,
Texas truck plant in 2012. At the time of his death, Johnson was working as
an in-home caregiver for his mentally disabled adult brother. Both men lived
with their mother in her home.
Johnson had
no criminal record in Texas. However, the Mesquite Police Department
documented an encounter with him in January 2011. According to the report,
Johnson walked into their police station "visibly upset and...bouncing
from side to side." He told an officer that a female friend had lied to
him and that he had nowhere else to go. He also declined mental health
treatment and claimed he was not a threat to himself or others. Johnson was
eventually picked up from the station by a friend from his Army Reserve unit.
The Veterans Health Administration
released documents in August 2016 showing that Johnson had symptoms for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
following his return from Afghanistan. He was not formally diagnosed with the
condition, and doctors concluded that he presented no serious risk to himself
or others. Johnson had sought treatment for anxiety, depression, and
hallucinations, once telling doctors that he had experienced nightmares after
witnessing fellow soldiers dying in explosions. Johnson also said that he would
hear voices and mortars exploding; and that after returning to the U.S., he
would be paranoid, suffer from lower back pain, and experience panic attacks a
few times per week. For the latter condition, he recalled one incident at a Wal-Mart that
required a police response. For his conditions, Johnson was prescribed several
medications, including a muscle relaxant, an antidepressant, and anti-anxiety
and sleep medication.
Chief Brown
said that while Johnson had been planning the shooting before the deaths of
Sterling and Philando Castile, both incidents served as the trigger to commit
the shooting and that he saw the Dallas protest as "an opportunity"
to attack police officers. Johnson had offered to work security at an anti-Donald
Trump rally led by Dallas civil rights activist Reverend Peter Johnson on
June 16, but he insisted on bringing a gun, so the reverend declined.
According to
police and a neighbor, Johnson practiced military exercises in his backyard. In
2014, Johnson received training and instruction at a private self-defense
school that teaches tactics such as "shooting on the move" (i.e.,
quickly firing, then changing position and resuming gunfire). The tactic was
designed to keep a gunman's location uncertain and create the impression of
multiple shooters. Although the school's website does mention such training as
being offered, Justin Everman, the founder of the school, stated that Johnson
only took self-defense courses two years ago. Investigators believed that he
began amassing his arsenal around the same time, stockpiling guns and gathering
chemicals and electronic devices and PVC piping
needed to build explosives.
Investigation
Weapons
There were conflicting reports on the type of semi-automatic rifle that Johnson used during
the shooting. Clay Jenkins, the Dallas County chief executive and the director
of homeland security and emergency management, said Johnson used an SKS. News reports, all
citing unnamed officials familiar with the investigation, said Johnson used a Izhmash-Saiga 5.45mm rifle,
which is a variation on the AK-74.
The New York Daily News did an interview with a man who sold Johnson a
semiautomatic AK-47
pattern rifle in November 2014. The man said he sold Johnson the rifle and made
the deal in a Target parking lot. When the man asked the ATF if his
weapon played a part in the shooting, the ATF agent who responded said,
"All we can say is it was recovered. We're just finding out everything we
can."
In addition to the rifle, Johnson carried at least
one handgun
with a high-capacity magazine during the attack.
CNN, citing an unnamed official, reported that two handguns were recovered, one
a Glock 19
Gen4 pistol and the other a Fraser
.25-caliber.
The FBI reported that Johnson wore ballistic body armor
with plates during the shooting.
Searches
Johnson's family home was searched by authorities
the day after the shooting. Bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, two rifles,
ammunition, and a "personal journal of combat tactics" containing
"instruction on shooting techniques and tactical movements" were
recovered from the home by detectives. Amateur civilian footage of the shooting
captured from a rooftop showed Johnson shooting while advancing at Officer
Thompson, who was positioned defensively behind a pillar, before pivoting and
immediately flanking the officer on the other side of the pillar and unleashing
another barrage of point-blank gunfire. Chief Brown reported that the journal included
"quite a bit of rambling ... that's hard to decipher."
Chief Brown said that recovered evidence pointed to
Johnson practicing detonations and having enough explosive material to cause
"devastating effects" throughout Dallas and the North
Texas area. However, the latter claim was contradicted on July 18 by two
officials familiar with the investigation, who both said small amounts of Tannerite, a
binary explosive used to make explosive targets
for gun ranges, and acetone, an accelerant in explosives, were recovered from the
home.
Statements were taken from three hundred witnesses
and officers during the course of the investigation. Investigators are
examining Johnson's laptop, journal, and cell phone, along with 170 hours of body
camera footage. However, there were concerns about the resolution quality
of some of the 90 cameras installed in downtown Dallas, which could have
recorded parts of the shooting essential to the investigation. The cameras were
part of a multimillion-dollar downtown surveillance system implemented to
reduce crime in the area. The Dallas Police Department planned to
release surveillance footage of the shooting on August 29, but held it off,
saying the release would interfere with its investigation.
Related arrests
Officials
initially said two or more snipers carried out the shooting, with the confusion
later attributed to ricocheting bullets and the echoes of gunshots. They later
said that Johnson appears to have been the lone gunman, with all of the
gunshots traced back to him. Three other people were taken into custody by
police, "but officials have not said what roles they may have
played." These three included two persons seen carrying camouflage
bags and leaving the shooting scene on Lamar Street. They were both stopped and
detained after a six-mile chase. The detained persons were all later determined
to be fleeing protesters who were either armed or carrying ammunition gear. However,
police announced on July 9 that they were continuing to investigate whether
Johnson acted alone or conspired with others in planning the shooting.
Investigators obtained a search warrant to look for phone numbers connected
to Johnson.
One of the
people taken into custody by police had attended the protest wearing a
camouflage T-shirt and openly carrying an unloaded AR-15 rifle. Shortly
after the shooting, the Dallas Police Department (DPD) tweeted a
photo of the man describing him as one of their suspects and asked the public's
help in finding him. The police-released image of the suspect was widely shared
on social media and broadcast on national television. The suspect turned
himself in and was subsequently released after questioning without charge.
Army internal review
On July 13, Pentagon
officials announced that the U.S. Army has launched an internal review into
Johnson's military service. The review was initiated after questions were
raised about the appropriateness of his honorable discharge despite the sexual
harassment allegations made against him, and the fact that the Army had been
highly considering an "other than honorable discharge" for Johnson.
During the
investigation, the Army uncovered an incomplete amount of information regarding
the sexual harassment allegations. The following day, another review was
initiated by the Army's Criminal
Investigation Command, to determine if a full investigation was made into
the allegations. An Army official echoed a statement made by the lawyer who
represented Johnson, saying that Johnson's honorable discharge may have been
the result of an administrative error. The same official added that nothing had
been found in Johnson's record that indicated a willingness to commit murder.
On July 29,
the Army released a heavily redacted report, which detailed the incident behind
Johnson's discharge but did not address why he was discharged honorably.
Another investigative report was released on August 17. On September 7, the
Army released Johnson's personnel files.
Aftermath
DART suspended service in downtown Dallas after the
shooting, but resumed the next morning with the exception of West End station. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction of civilian
aircraft for the immediate vicinity in which the shooting occurred, allowing
only police aircraft in the airspace.
El Centro College
canceled all classes on July 8. Police barricaded the perimeter and began
canvassing the crime scene. The explosion that killed Johnson also destroyed
the school's servers, further delaying reopening. The school partially reopened
on July 20, with staff returning that day and students on the following day.
Buildings A, B, and C remained closed pending the FBI investigation. A
"Reflect and Renew" ceremony dedicated to demonstrating citywide
efforts to unify Dallas was held at the college on July 27. Students and staff,
along with city and community officials, were in attendance.
Chief Brown said that police efforts to identify
the gunman were made more difficult by the presence of up to thirty civilians openly carrying rifles during the protest,
which is legal in Texas. Brown said, "We're trying as best we can as a law
enforcement community to make it work so that citizens can express their Second Amendment
rights. But it's increasingly challenging when people have AR-15s slung over their shoulder and
they're in a crowd. We don't know who the good guy is versus the bad guy when
everyone starts shooting." In an interview after the shooting, Dallas
Mayor Mike
Rawlings said that he supported changing state law to
restrict the public carrying of rifles and shotguns so that
the police could distinguish between suspects and civilians more easily during
crises.
Dallas Observer noted several similarities between Johnson and Mark Essex, a
discharged U.S. Navy sailor and Black Panther who committed two attacks against white
civilians and police officers on December 31, 1972, and January 7, 1973, in New Orleans. The
attacks left nine people dead, including five police officers.
Lawsuits
In November
2016, Enrique Zamarripa, the father of Officer Patrick Zamarripa, one of the
murdered police officers, filed a lawsuit against Black Lives Matter and 13 other defendants,
including the Nation of Islam, the New Black Panther Party, the Reverend Al
Sharpton, and individual activists. The lawsuit seeks $550 million in
damages and claims that Johnson was acting as an agent for the defendants and
alleged that the defendants incited violence and caused the Dallas shooting as
a "direct result". The mother of the officer, Valerie Zamarripa,
distanced herself from her ex-husband's lawsuit, saying that it did not reflect
her views, or the views of the foundation set up in her son's name.
Earlier, in
September 2016, a Dallas police officer, Sgt. Demetrick Pennie, represented by
lawyer Larry Klayman, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of Texas against 17 people—including Louis
Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam, Sharpton, the National Action Network, Black Lives
Matter, DeRay Mckesson, Malik Zulu Shabazz, the New Black Panther Party,
George
Soros, President Barack Obama, Eric
Holder, Hillary Clinton, and Jesse
Jackson—blaming them for the attack and seeking damages of over $500
million. Klayman has used his nonprofit group Freedom Watch to pursue lawsuits
that "further supposed 'far-right' causes" in the
past. The lawsuit was seen as "unlikely to be taken too seriously by a
judge" and all of Klayman's claims against Mckesson and Black Lives Matter
were dismissed or withdrawn. Attorneys for Mckesson have argued that
"Klayman should have known his claims were frivolous."
In January
2017, Pennie separately sued Twitter, Facebook, and Google in the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming that the
websites "knowingly and recklessly" allowed terrorist propaganda to
be spread on their social networks.
Effects on policing
As a result
of the shooting, local law enforcement officers worked more than $800,000 in
overtime to help the Dallas Police Department (DPD). This
included $86,000 spent by the Dallas County Sheriff's Office, $88,000 spent by
the Arlington Police Department, about $705,250 by DPD, and unknown sums by the
Irving Police Department and the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department.
Following
this shooting and another in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, that killed three police officers and wounded three others,
local law enforcement agencies across the U.S. began readjusting response
strategies, with more officers being paired up in patrol vehicles. Departments
also began to increase security and surveillance at protest events against
police.
Within twelve
days following the shooting, DPD received 467 job applications, representing a
344% increase from the 136 applications received by the department in June. In
the months before the shooting, DPD, along with other police departments across
the country, had been struggling to recruit new officers. DPD even had to
cancel academy classes because there were not enough applicants, and also
struggled in retaining officers due to a low salary. On August 25, DPD
announced their goal to hire 549 officers by October 2017, though some police
and City Council officials called it an unrealistic goal due to the
department's strict hiring requirements.
Use of a police robot to kill Johnson
The killing
of Johnson was the first time in United States history a robot was used by
police to kill a suspect. The Remotec
ANDROS Mark
V-A1, a bomb disposal remote control vehicle used by police, was
rigged with about 1 pound (0.45 kilograms) of C-4
explosive. The decision to attack Johnson with a robot was made after it was
concluded that the heavily armed assailant had secured himself behind a corner
at the end of a hallway, with no safe way for police to rush him or reach him
with a sniper.
There were
various reactions to the lethal use of a robot by police. P. W.
Singer, a robotics expert at the New America Foundation, said it was the
first instance of which he was aware of a robot being used lethally by police.
Seth Stoughton, an assistant professor of law at the University of South Carolina, said, "This is sort of a new horizon for police technology.
Robots have been around for a while, but using them to deliver lethal force
raises some new issues."
To this
effect, Stoughton said, "I'm not aware of any
police department having on hand something that is intended to be used as a
weaponized explosive." He believed that the manner in which the
police used the robot was justified due to Johnson being an imminent
threat to police personnel and civilians, stating, "The
circumstances that justify lethal force justify
lethal force in essentially every form." Security researcher Matt Blaze
tweeted that he was concerned about how the control link to the robot was
secured.
Reactions
Texas
Governor Greg
Abbott ordered the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety
to offer any assistance to Dallas when requested. He also said, "In times
like this we must remember—and emphasize—the importance of uniting as
Americans." Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick attributed the violence to
individuals on social media, "former Black Lives Matter protesters",
and others with anti-police views, later expressing regret for his statement.
President Barack
Obama called the shooting a "vicious, calculated, despicable
attack" and a "tremendous tragedy". He also made immediate calls
for gun
control. The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest
police union in the U.S., called for the shooting to be investigated as a hate crime
and criticized President Obama's response, saying that he needed to speak for
everyone and not give one speech for police officers and another one for
African Americans.
Leaders
associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, including organizers
of the protest rally, condemned the shooting.
External
video
|
 "Memorial
Service for Slain Dallas Police Officers", C-SPAN, July 12,
2016[165] |
On July 8,
the day after the shooting, a special interfaith vigil attracted hundreds of
people to Thanks-Giving Square in Downtown Dallas, where
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and regional faith leaders led prayers
for the officers involved in the shooting and for everyone affected by it.
An interfaith
memorial to the dead officers was held at Dallas's Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
on July 12. Former President George
W. Bush, a Texan, and President Obama both spoke. Obama praised the Dallas
police as heroes and called the killings "an act not just of demented
violence but of racial hatred." In the aftermath, Obama urged
Americans not to give in to despair, saying, "[W]e are not so divided as
we seem."
Attorney General Loretta
Lynch said that agents from the ATF, FBI, Marshals Service, and other U.S. Department of Justice agencies were
on the scene working with state and local agencies. Lynch stated that the
proper response to uncertainty and fear "is never violence" but
rather is "calm, peaceful, collaborative and determined action."
Lynch also said, "To all Americans, I ask you, I implore you, do not let
this week precipitate a new normal in this country."
After the
shootings at Dallas, Louisiana, and Minnesota, the Bahamian government issued a travel
advisory telling citizens to use caution when traveling to the U.S. due to
racial tensions. They specifically advised that young men use "extreme
caution" when interacting with police and to be non-confrontational and
cooperative.
 |
Portraits of the seven Chicago policemen killed
in Haymarket Square, from Harper’s Weekly, May 15, 1886.
|
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