Four police officers were killed on Thursday night as Black Lives Matter protestors opened fire on police in protest against the recent shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
Two snipers shot at ten police officers in Dallas during a BLM protest/rally.
Video from Dallas Morning News reporter Michael Bautista captured the slaying as it happened.
The Dallas Police Department have urged residents to call a special hotline with any information members of the public may have regarding the shootings:
An intensive search for suspects is currently underway. No suspects are in custody at this time. We ask that any citizen with information regarding the shootings tonight call 214-671-3485.
We will provide more information once it is available. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers tonight.
David Police Chief David Brown has confirmed that two suspects have been taken into custody alive. One of the suspects was captured after a shootout with the SWAT team.
A suspicious package, possibly a bomb, was also discovered in downtown Dallas by bomb squad members.
Foxnews.com reports:
Another man whose picture had been circulated by authorities as a “person of interest” had turned himself in. It was not immediately clear whether this person was in fact the second suspect.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown confirmed the four fatalities — three Dallas officers and one transit officer — and said seven other officers and one civilian were wounded in the shooting. Three of the injured officers reportedly were in critical condition and two others were in surgery.
Dallas’ public transit agency, DART, confirmed on Twitter that one of its officers was shot and killed, while three of its officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Brown said the shooters positioned themselves in two parking garages in downtown Dallas and “planned to kill as many law enforcement officers as they could.”
Fox4 cameras captured protesters running away from the scene of the shooting shortly before 9 p.m. local time. A cameraman approached the scene and captured officers apparently lying on the ground.
#BREAKING: Our cameras captured several shots ring out during a protest in Downtown Dallas pic.twitter.com/OWOBOOI8Jg
— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) July 8, 2016
A Dallas police source estimated to Fox News that at least 60 rounds were fired over a “large kill zone.” The source added that the shooting would have required considerable planning.
Aerial images showed officers appearing to focus their search on a nearby parking garage, which may have served as the snipers’ perch.
Witness Carlos Harris told the Dallas Morning News the gunfire was “strategic. It was tap-tap-pause. Tap-tap-pause.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement saying he has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety director to offer “whatever assistance the City of Dallas needs at this time.”
“In times like this we must remember — and emphasize — the importance of uniting as Americans,” Abbott said.
The protesters had gathered after a Minnesota officer on Wednesday fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a car with a woman and a child in a St. Paul suburb. The aftermath of the shooting was purportedly livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video.
A day earlier, Alton Sterling was shot in Louisiana after being pinned to the pavement by two white officers. That, too, was captured on a cellphone video.
Michael Bautista told KDFW the protest march had been “very peaceful” before the shooting started.
Brittany Peete, a demonstrator, told the Associated Press she didn’t hear the gunshots, but she “saw people rushing back toward me saying there was an active shooter.”
Peete said she saw a woman trip and nearly get trampled as people ran to get to safety.
“Everyone just started running,” Devante Odom, 21, told The Dallas Morning News. “We lost touch with two of our friends just trying to get out of there.”
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