Dallas sniper was loner; Army sent him home from Afghanistan

It was unclear who reported the suspicious person.

Obama is defending his calls for stricter gun measures in the wake of the Dallas shootings that killed five and injured seven police officers.

She added: “The shooting in Dallas was very sad”.

Police killed the gunman, identified by a US government source as Micah Xavier Johnson, with a bomb-carrying robot after cornering him in a parking lot, ending the hours-long standoff.

“One thing we need to do is to get a hold of how pervasive the problem is and that would mean a national database of collections of how many officer-involved shootings and police brutality, as well as officer-involved deaths, that we presently don’t have”.

Authorities are now convinced that Johnson “was the lone shooter in this incident”, Rawlings said. Two civilians also were wounded.

“Our profession is hurting”, Brown said Friday morning.

The shootings came amid a protest over the fatal police shootings of two black men in Louisiana and Minnesota this week.

A crowd that once numbered about 1,500 has dwindled to a couple of dozen protesters by midday Saturday.

President Barack Obama has tried to calm fears of a divided nation saying Johnson was a “demented” individual who does not represent the views of African Americans.

Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police officers in Louisiana as he was pinned to the ground in a auto park in front of shocked on-lookers.

For the President, that was grounds for optimism that the nation would move forward in a constructive way. “This is the biggest loss we’ve had”.

We are better than this.

After initial reports of multiple snipers in the Dallas massacre on Thursday night, it became apparent that the mass murderer was one man – a former soldier named Micah Xavier Johnson.

While downtown Dallas ambush shooter Micah Johnson had no criminal record, he did have a troubled past in the U.S. Army.

He was a carpentry and masonry specialist, with a rank of private first class, and was awarded the Army Achievement Medal.

A relative had left a positive comment on Johnson’s Facebook page celebrating his birthday in 2014, calling him “definitely Army strong” and an “entertaining, loving, understanding, not to mention handsome friend, brother (and) son”. “Just hoopin'”, he said. I suspect, however, that Johnson would have been motivated to get his hands on a weapon to carry out this plan through other channels.

Johnson’s last known employer was Jeppie Carnegie, who owns a home health care facility in Dallas. He would often play basketball, she said, at the local basketball court with youth and men from the neighbourhood.

After the hours-long standoff with law enforcement, Jonson was killed by officers who detonated a bomb delivered by robot, which appears to be the first time the tactic was employed.

As Dallas braced Saturday for the funerals of five officers killed in the deadliest attack on police in almost a century, their heartbroken colleagues were left to ask: Why here?

State investigators identified the two officers as Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser. Three of those were DART officers, two of whom have been released.

KTRK says one of the unidentified officers is a 10-year veteran of the force, and the other is a 13-year veteran. The suspect was arrested and the officer was in critical condition, Scott said.

DART Officer Brent Thompson, 43, who had worked for the department since 2009, was among those killed Thursday. The officer, who is in stable condition, was shot once in the abdomen and twice in his protective vest, the GBI said. The officers then fired numerous times.

Of question is whether Thursday’s shootings were the work of a malcontent individual who chose to take matters into his own hands after what he came to perceive to be egregious acts of violence at the hands of “white police”, and whether he had made a decision to heed his sister’s views of who would avenge black people’s subjugation or whether Johnson’s actions may have been the result of his solidarity towards militant black power movement seeking retribution?

“The man also told officers before he died that he acted alone and was not affiliated with any group”.

A revolver was found and there are a number of witnesses, Silva said.

Law enforcement officials did not immediately disclose the race of the suspect or the dead officers.

On Wednesday, Diamond Reynolds live streamed the aftermath of her boyfriend Philando Castile ‘s shooting during a routine traffic stop, to Facebook live.

Diamond Reynolds showed Castile groaning and bleeding in the front seat.

She said: “I do have nephews and I’m thinking “do I have to call them and tell them don’t go outside?”

On Friday afternoon, Cornute said she was on her way to Philadelphia from Chicago-O’Hare International Airport.

The Johnson family was not happy to have Daily Mail Online up in their business on July 9, when the outlet took pics of the family exiting James’ house. When a black woman began to shed tears near a squad auto, an older white man came to her and wiped them from her cheeks with her hands.