News

Actions

The Latest: Obama to Deliver Remarks in Dallas on Shooting

The Latest: Police: 3 officers killed during Dallas protests
Posted at
and last updated

DALLAS (AP) - The Latest on the shooting of police officers in Dallas.

UPDATE 6/10 12:30 p.m.

The White House says President Barack Obama will travel to Dallas on Tuesday and deliver remarks at an interfaith memorial service.

The service will take place at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The White House says Obama is making the trip at the invitation of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings.

Five officers were killed and seven were wounded when a gunman opened fire on a protest march in Dallas on Thursday.

The attack occurred shortly after Obama had arrived for a NATO summit in Poland. He cut his visit to Spain short by a day and has spoken daily during the trip about the attacks, calling for police and protesters to "listen to each other."

UPDATE 6/10 11:55 a.m.

The sister of the woman who was shot while shielding her children from the Dallas gunman's bullets says the family hopes she will be released from the hospital Sunday.

Speaking at a town hall meeting in Dallas, Theresa Williams says her sister is "doing much better."

Shetamia Taylor and her four sons attended the downtown Dallas protest against police killings of blacks Thursday. Relatives say she threw herself over her boys when a gunman opened fire on the march, leaving her with a shattered leg and one of the boys spattered in blood.

Five officers were killed and seven were wounded by the sniper. Taylor was one of two civilians who were also wounded.

---

UPDATE 6/10 11:25 a.m.

The Minnesota woman who shot video of her dying boyfriend after a police officer shot him last week says she realized the traffic stop was different when she heard fear in the officer's voice.

Lavish "Diamond" Reynolds called into a Sunday morning service at The Potter's House, a Dallas megachurch, to talk about the death of her boyfriend, Philando Castile.

Reynolds says that when she heard the officer, "it instantly clicked to me that this was something bigger than myself and Phil."

Reynolds cried as she recounted the shooting and said her daughter, who was shown on camera comforting her, is still telling her "it's gonna be OK."

The killing of Castile outside St. Paul and another black man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, touched off protests. On Thursday, a gunman opened fire on police at one such protest in Dallas, killing five officers.

___

UPDATE 6/10 10:45 a.m.

Police say a vehicle struck a Dallas police car parked outside the home of one of five officers slain during a protest last week.

Fort Worth police say they are investigating whether the crash was an accident or deliberate.

Authorities are trying to locate the vehicle, which sped away after smashing into the driver's side of the police car around 1 a.m. Sunday.

Nobody was hurt.

Two Dallas officers were assigned to the marked patrol car, but officials didn't immediately say whether the officers were in the vehicle.

Authorities say the lone sniper in the Dallas attack was killed early Friday when an explosive on a remote-controlled police robot was detonated.

___

UPDATE 6/10 9:50 a.m.

Police have arrested about 100 people in St. Paul during protests of the recent police killings of black men, including one outside Minnesota's capital city.

Authorities say 21 St. Paul officers and six state troopers were hurt during the fracas late Saturday and early Sunday.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Police Chief Todd Axtell are condemning the violence. Axtell calls the pelting of officers with rocks, bottles and other objects "a disgrace."

The Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/29qNWkj) reports about half the arrests came during a blockade of Interstate 94 in St. Paul. About 50 arrests were made early Sunday in another part of St. Paul. The interstate reopened early Sunday morning.

The protest was among several demonstrations nationwide following the deaths of 32-year-old Philando Castile in suburban St. Paul and 37-year-old Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

___

UPDATE 6/10 9:40 a.m.

San Antonio police say shots fired overnight near the department headquarters hit the building, but nobody was hurt.

Chief William McManus says investigators are trying to determine whether the building was targeted Saturday night or if someone was randomly firing.

Police detained one person for questioning after the man was seen running from the area.

Five police officers were killed after a sniper opened fire Thursday night in Dallas during a protest against the killings of black men last week by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Several San Antonio police officers who were in the headquarters Saturday night reported hearing gunshots. McManus says several shell casings were found in a nearby alley.

___

UPDATE 6/10 9:25 a.m.

President Barack Obama says protesters who attack police officers are doing a disservice to their cause.

Obama said in Madrid after meeting with Spain's acting prime minister that one of the great things about America is that individuals and groups can protest and speak truth to power. He says the process is sometimes messy and controversial, but the ability to engage in free speech has improved America.

Obama also cautions that if protesters paint police with a broad brush, they could lose allies for their cause. At the same time, he says that when police organizations acknowledge there is a problem stemming from bias, it will contribute to solutions.

Obama is cutting his first visit to Spain a day short because of a series of deadly shootings in the U.S.

___

UPDATE 6/10 8:50 a.m.

Dallas police chief David Brown says the suspect in the deadly attack on Dallas police officers scrawled letters in his own blood on the walls of the parking garage where officers cornered and later killed him.

Brown told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that Micah Johnson wrote lettering in blood before heading upstairs and writing more in his own blood. He says the 25-year-old Army veteran wrote the letters "RB," and that investigators are looking through things found in his suburban Dallas home to try to figure out what he may have meant by that.

The chief defended the decision to kill Johnson using a robot-delivered bomb, saying negotiations went nowhere and trying to "get him" in some other way would have put his officers in danger.

Brown says that during the roughly two-hour standoff in the garage, Johnson lied to and taunted the police negotiators.

Authorities say Johnson killed five police officers and wounded seven others and two civilians during an attack at a protest over last week's killings by police of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

___

UPDATE 6/10 1:40 a.m.

The gunman who killed five police officers at a protest march had practiced military-style drills in his yard and trained at a private self-defense school that teaches special tactics, including "shooting on the move," a maneuver in which an attacker fires and changes position before firing again.

Micah Johnson, an Army veteran, received instruction at the Academy of Combative Warrior Arts in the Dallas suburb of Richardson about two years ago, said the school's founder and chief instructor, Justin J. Everman.

Everman's statement was corroborated by a police report from May 8, 2015, when someone at a business a short distance away called in a report of several suspicious people in a parked SUV.

The investigating officer closed the case just minutes after arriving at a strip mall. While there, the officer spoke to Johnson, who said he "had just gotten out of a class at a nearby self-defense school."

___

UPDATE 6/9 9:10 p.m.

The owner of a community social services organization says the gunman who killed five police officers at a Dallas protest march worked for his organization.

Dallas-based Touch of Kindness subcontracts with the state to provide care for people with disabilities.

Owner Jeppi Carnegie says that Micah Johnson was paid to care for his brother, who was in his early 20s.

Carnegie said Johnson, until his death this week, received an hourly wage to look after his brother at the home in Mesquite where both men lived with their mother. Carnegie said he spoke with Johnson only once by phone, for less than a minute, and only then to confirm that he would be taking care of his brother.

Johnson was killed Friday morning by police

UPDATE 6/9 7:55 p.m.

Dallas police officials have issued an all-clear after searching for a suspicious person in a parking garage next to the department's headquarters.

A Dallas police spokeswoman said earlier Saturday that the department tightened security after receiving an anonymous threat against law enforcement across the city.

The department says on Twitter that it searched the garage with officers and dogs to ensure a report of a suspicious person was thoroughly investigated.

The city is on edge since a sniper opened fire on officers guiding a protest march two days ago, killing five officers.

___

UPDATE 6/9 6:50 p.m.

Dallas police officials say officers are searching for a suspicious person in a parking garage next to its headquarters.

The police department also asked media not to broadcast live near the headquarters for the safety of officers. They say the headquarters building is not on lockdown and that no shots have been fired. They also say SWAT officers set off a device to enter a locked fence.

A nearby light rail station also was closed. The Dallas Transit agency cited "police activity."

A Dallas police spokeswoman said earlier Saturday that the department received an anonymous threat against law enforcement across the city and has tightened security.

The city is on edge since a sniper opened fire on officers guiding a protest march two days ago, killing five officers.

___

UPDATE 6/9 6:25 p.m.

At least two Dallas Police Department buildings are now blocked off, with numerous police vehicles and armed officers outside.

Officers in helmets carrying rifles were outside the buildings Saturday evening. Police also are standing outside a building behind police headquarters.

It wasn't immediately clear what police are investigating. Maj. Thomas Castro says several general threats have been made against Dallas police, though nothing specific.

A Dallas police spokeswoman said earlier Saturday that the department received an anonymous threat against law enforcement across the city and has tightened security.

Police also have shut down a street in front of the department's headquarters amid the heightened police presence.

Reporters are being told to move away from the area.

___

UPDATE 6/9 6 p.m.

Dallas police have shut down a street in front of the department's headquarters and there is a heightened police presence near the building.

It wasn't immediately clear what police were investigating. Media outlets were being told to move to the front of headquarters, in east of downtown Dallas

___

UPDATE 6/9 5:45 p.m.

A Dallas police spokeswoman says the department received an anonymous threat against law enforcement across the city and has tightened security.

Dallas Police Department spokeswoman Sr. Cpl. Monica Cordova called the measures precautionary.

An armored vehicle was moved to near the department's downtown headquarters late Saturday afternoon and heavily armed officers were seen walking nearby. But members of the public were still able to walk about freely around the building.

Other departments around the country have been receiving threats. They follow videos involving police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Mississippi, and the killing of five police officers by a sniper in Dallas.

___

UPDATE 6/9 5:20 p.m.

An uncle of the black Minnesota man fatally shot by police during a traffic stop last week says his nephew "stayed on the straight and narrow" and was "always a good man."

Clarence Castile spoke with The Associated Press on Saturday while standing at the site where Philando Castile was shot and killed by a police officer last week.

Two memorials have been set up at the site, attracting a steady stream of visitors. Many left bouquets of flowers, some left messages, while others used chalk on the street to write condolences and messages of support for the family.

Clarence Castile says Philando was giving, timid and loving. He vowed to "not let my nephew be killed in vain." He says something more has to come from this and he's going to find out what it is.

___

UPDATE 6/9 5:15 p.m.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is meeting with the family and friends of a black man police killed this week.

St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez shot Philando Castile on Wednesday during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Falcon Heights. Protesters have been camped out in front of Dayton's mansion for three days, demanding justice.

Dayton has met with the demonstrators several times. Dayton spokesman Matt Swenson said the governor and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith met with Castile's family and friends on Saturday afternoon at the mansion.

Swenson says the meeting was very cordial but declined to comment on the substance of the conversation. Swenson says the governor plans to meet with representatives of the NAACP on Sunday.

___

UPDATE 6/9 5 p.m.

The police department in the Gulf Coast town of Waveland, Mississippi, is among those on alert after receiving what authorities there deem credible threats against officers.

Police Chief David Allen told The Sun Herald newspaper (http://bit.ly/29zawdQ) the threats had come via phone and social media and involved possible gunfire attacks Saturday night and Sunday. Extra police were to be on duty during the weekend.

Officials have also notified surrounding police agencies, fire departments and emergency medical services.

The threats follow videos involving police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Mississippi, and the killing of five police officers by a sniper in Dallas.

Dallas police say they've also been getting threats.

___

UPDATE 6/9 4:45 p.m.

The gunman who ambushed police officers in Dallas studied at a self-defense school that advertises teaching various firearm tactics, including "shooting on the move."

A person who says he was in charge of the Academy of Combative Warrior Arts in suburban Richardson told The Associated Press on Saturday that Micah Johnson had studied there about two years ago. The man refused to answer additional questions and would not give his name.

A Richardson police department report, dated May 8, 2015, noted that Johnson had told an officer he "had just gotten out of a class at a nearby self-defense school." The school is a few doors down.

The report was made in response to a suspicious person. The investigating officer closed the case just minutes after being called to the scene.

___

UPDATE 6/9 4 p.m.

The Dallas memorial to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is a closed crime scene to the usual hordes of weekend tourists.

Police cruisers still cordon off 20 square downtown blocks where an Army reservist killed five police officers in a sniper attack. Onlookers outside the barricades are mourning the slain officers in a city long tormented by the Kennedy assassination.

The ambush Thursday night during a protest march over recent police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota shook even Dallas residents most inexorably tied to Kennedy's death.

Among them is Marie Tippit, the 87-year-old widow of the Dallas police officer who Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed after killing Kennedy. She says she stayed up watching coverage of this week's bloodshed until the "wee hours."

___

UPDATE 6/9 2 p.m.

Police in Missouri are asking for help from anyone who witnessed an officer being shot.

St. Louis County police spokesman Officer Benjamin Granda said Saturday in an email that investigators believe several people were "driving or running" nearby when the Ballwin officer was shot during a traffic stop Friday. He asks that witnesses call the department.

County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch says the officer was "ambushed" during a traffic stop when he was shot at least once from behind.

Granda also says the officer, who hasn't been identified, remained in critical condition Saturday.

Thirty-one-year-old Antonio Taylor is in custody and charged with assault of a police officer, armed criminal action and being a felon in possession of a firearm. It's unclear if he has a lawyer.

___

UPDATE 6/9 12:35 p.m.

Several people around the country have been arrested for making threats against law enforcement in the wake of shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota and the killings of five officers in Dallas.

A suburban Chicago woman is accused of posting a threat on Facebook to shoot any police officer who pulls her over and asks her to get out of the car.

Police in Louisiana say a man was jailed after posting a social media video in which he says he wants to shoot and kill a police officer. Police in Bossier (BOH'-zhur) say the man made the video while sitting in a car that was behind a police unit at a fast-food drive-thru.

And in Racine, Wisconsin, police say they arrested a man who posted calls for black men to kill white police officers and their families.

UPDATE 6/9 12:30 p.m.

President Barack Obama contends that racial relations have improved during his presidency, but he describes that progress in measured terms.

Obama says the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow and discrimination cannot be wiped away by any one milestone, whether that's the Civil Rights Act or his election as the first black president.

But he says he's tried to get all Americans to listen to each other on matters of race. He says he believes his voice has "been true in speaking about these issues."

As the president put it during a news conference in Poland, "We plant seeds. And somebody else, maybe, sits under the shade of the tree that we planted."

___

UPDATE 6/9 12:20 p.m.

Demonstrators calling for justice in the fatal police shooting of a black driver are marking a third straight day outside the Minnesota governor's mansion in St. Paul.

A crowd that once numbered about 1,500 has dwindled to a couple of dozen protesters by midday Saturday. They formed a circle in the street in front of the governor's residence as an organizer prayed for peace and togetherness.

On the fence in front of the mansion, protesters posted signs, some of which read "Justice for Philando" and "Stop Police Brutality."

The demonstration was the latest to protest the death of Philando Castile, who was shot and killed during a traffic stop by a police officer in the predominantly white St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights.

___

UPDATE 6/9 12:05 p.m.

President Barack Obama says the proliferation of guns is part of the broader tensions that sometimes arise between police departments and the communities they serve.

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

He says police officers at times have very little margin for error in making decisions because guns are so plentiful.

Obama also says the United States is unique among advanced countries in the scale of violence that it experiences, not just through mass shootings but the spate of people shot in his hometown of Chicago.

He says the U.S. cannot identify every trouble individual before they do harm to innocent people, but it can make it harder for them to do so.

___

UPDATE 6/9 11:55 p.m.

Wimbledon champion Serena Williams says the recent fatal police shootings of two black men and the attack on police in Dallas have her worried.

Williams was asked about the episodes after winning Wimbledon on Saturday.

She says the events made her think about her nephews.

She says she's wondering if she should call them and tell them, "Don't go outside. If you get in your car, it might be the last time I see you."

On Tuesday in Louisiana, a black man was shot by police. A day later in Minnesota, another black man was shot dead by an officer.

Then, five police officers were shot and killed during a protest in Dallas on Thursday.

Williams says "obviously, violence is not the answer of solving it." She calls the Dallas shootings "very sad."

___

UPDATE 6/9 11:45 a.m.

President Barack Obama says America is "not as divided as some suggest" while acknowledging this has been "a very tough week" for the nation.

The president says Americans of all races and backgrounds are "rightly outraged" by the deadly attack on Dallas police officers, and "rightly saddened and angered" by the fatal police shooting of two black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Obama addressed matters of grief, anger of unity at a news conference in Warsaw, Poland.

He says those who protested the killings of the two black men are as outraged as anyone by the killings of five police officers in Dallas.

Obama says that "as tough, as hard, as depressing" as has been the loss of lives this week, "we've got a foundation to build on."

___

UPDATE 6/9 11:15 a.m.

Many U.S. flags are flying at half-staff in Texas to honor the five officers slain in Dallas, but a South Texas judge says only the Texas flag has been lowered in his county.

Goliad County Judge Pat Calhoun, the county's top administrator, told the Victoria Advocate (http://bit.ly/29DhLk6) that Gov. Greg Abbott's order to lower the state flag was a "local issue."

Calhoun says Thursday's shooting in Dallas and another last month at an Orlando nightclub that killed 49 did not meet federal criteria for lowering the U.S. flag.

President Barack Obama in both instances ordered the American flag be lowered.

The U.S. Flag Code allows presidents and governors to lower flags for officials, military members and certain occasions, though some states have their own policies.

___

UPDATE 6/9 10:25 a.m.

An attorney for a suburban Minneapolis police officer who killed a black motorist says the officer reacted to the man's gun, not his race.

Minneapolis attorney Thomas Kelly told The Associated Press on Saturday that St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez was reacting to "the presence of that gun and the display of that gun" when he opened fire on Philando Castile.

Castile's girlfriend, who streamed the shooting's aftermath live on Facebook, says Castile was permitted to carry the gun.

Kelly says Yanez, who is Latino, is distraught and saddened over the Wednesday shooting in the Minneapolis suburb of Falcon Heights.

Authorities say that during the traffic stop, Yanez approached Castile's car from the driver's side and another officer approached from the passenger side. Yanez opened fire, striking Castile multiple times.

Kelly wouldn't elaborate on what led up to the shooting, citing a pending investigation.

___

UPDATE 6/9 7:45 a.m.

Texas authorities say two officers have shot and killed a gunman on Houston's south side.

Houston Police Department officials say the shooting happened about 12:40 a.m. Saturday, when officers saw a man with a revolver standing in the road. Police say after officers asked the man to put down the gun, he instead pointed the revolver in the air, then at the officers. The officers then fired numerous times.

The unidentified man died at the scene.

Bystander Eric Puckett tells KTRK-TV (http://abc13.co/29o79HX) the victim was a black male. The officers' races were not immediately known.

KTRK says one of the unidentified officers is a 10-year veteran of the force, and the other is a 13-year veteran. The officers will be investigated by internal affairs, along with Harris County.

An investigation is ongoing.

___

UODATE 6/9 1:50 a.m.

A black Army veteran upset about fatal police shootings of black men and bent on exterminating white police officers killed five lawmen in a sniper attack that layered new anxiety onto a nation already divided about guns and how police treat African-Americans.

Micah Johnson, who donned a protective vest and used a military-style semi-automatic rifle, was killed by a robot-delivered bomb after the Thursday evening shootings, authorities said. It marked the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In all, 12 officers were shot just a few blocks from where President John F. Kennedy was slain in 1963.

___

UODATE 11 p.m.

Philando Castile's mother and two of his uncles are condemning a shooting in Dallas that left five police officers dead and wounded several more.

In an interview with CNN, Valerie Castile says her son would not have approved of the shootings "because he believed that all lives matter."

Police say Dallas suspect Micah Johnson was upset about the fatal police shootings of Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana.

Tracy Castile says while the video of his nephew's death is horrific, he is glad it came out. He says he and his family are looking for due process. He wants the officer involved to be "treated like any other criminal."

State investigators identified the two officers as Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser. Both are on administrative leave.

___

UPDATE 10:30 p.m.

A military lawyer says the man who fatally shot five officers in Dallas was accused of sexual harassment by a female solider when he served in the Army in Afghanistan in May 2014.

Lawyer Bradford Glendening says Micah Johnson was sent back to the U.S. with the recommendation he be removed from the Army with an "other than honorable" discharge.

Glendening, who represented Johnson at the time, said Friday that the recommendation was "highly unusual" since generally counseling is ordered before more drastic steps are taken.

Glendening said Johnson was set to be removed from the Army in September 2014 because of the incident. Instead, Johnson got an honorable discharge the following April - for reasons Gardening doesn't understand.

UPDATE (12:45 p.m.)

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have put off political events out of respect for five police officers fatally shot during a protest in Dallas.

Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has postponed a rally scheduled for Friday in Pennsylvania, but still plans to travel to Philadelphia for a scheduled appearance at the African Methodist Episcopal Convention.

Trump has canceled his plans to address Hispanics in Miami on Friday.

The presumptive Republican nominee denounced the police deaths as "a coordinated, premeditated assault on the men and women who keep us safe." Clinton says she is mourning the officers killed "while doing their sacred duty to protect peaceful protesters."

Seven other police officers and two civilians were injured in the shooting attack during the rally to protest killings of black men by white police officers.

___

UPDATE (12:35 p.m.)

Authorities have apparently finished an initial search of the home of a suspect in the deadly attack on Dallas police officers.

Agents in Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives vests on Friday carried several bags of unknown materials from 25-year-old Micah Johnson's home in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite.

Authorities stopped blocking off the street just before noon. No one answered a knock on the door at the home.

A Texas law enforcement official identified Johnson to The Associated Press as a suspect who was killed by police with a robot-delivered bomb. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

The attack began Thursday at a downtown Dallas protest over the recent killings by police of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Five officers were killed and seven others were wounded. Two civilians were also wounded.

Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.

___

UPDATE (12:20 p.m.)

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army says Micah Xavier Johnson, named as a suspect in the Dallas police shootings, served in the Army Reserve and did one tour of duty in Afghanistan.

The Army says Johnson was a private first class and his home of record is Mesquite, Texas. His military occupational specialty was carpentry and masonry.

His service dates, as provided by the Army, are March 2009 to April 2015.

The Army says Johnson deployed to Afghanistan in November 2013 and returned in July 2014.

___

UPDATE (12:15 p.m.)

One of the organizers of the downtown Dallas protest where five police officers were shot and killed says he doesn't recognize a man identified as a suspected shooter.

Pastor Jeff Hood said Friday that he had never heard of 25-year-old Micah Johnson. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Johnson is the suspect who died in a lengthy overnight standoff with police.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he said he was not authorized to release the information. Dallas Police Chief David Brown says the suspect in the standoff had told police he was acting alone and wasn't affiliated with a group.

Hood says he began screaming "active shooter!" at hundreds of fellow demonstrators once gunfire erupted at the march to protest the recent fatal shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.

Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.

___

UPDATE (11:55 a.m.)

Former President George W. Bush says he and former first lady Laura Bush are heartbroken about the fatal shooting of five police officers in Dallas.

Praising the professionalism of the city's police department, Bush said in a statement Friday from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, that the couple is also praying for the seven officers who were wounded in the attack Thursday. Two civilians were also wounded and police killed a suspect.

He says, "Murdering the innocent is always evil, never more so than when the lives taken belong to those who protect our families and communities."

Bush congratulated the city's leaders on their response to the shootings and says he is proud to call Dallas his home.

___

UPDATE (11:50 a.m.)

Some Black Lives Matter supporters are condemning the slayings of police in Dallas during a protest over fatal police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

New York Daily News columnist Shaun King says on Twitter that he hates police brutality but doesn't hate police. He says: "This violence is wrong on every level."

Center for Media Justice director Malkia Cyril says her "heart hurts for the dead."

Cyril and King also defended the Black Lives Matter movement.

She writes that it "advocates dignity, justice and freedom, not the murder of cops." King says anyone blaming Black Lives Matter "is sick." He says protesters were peaceful and the shootings "terrorized them too."

___

UPDATE (11:45 a.m.)

A former Illinois congressman is standing by a Twitter post he sent after the fatal shooting of police officers in Dallas in which he warned President Barack Obama to "Watch out."

Joe Walsh told The Associated Press on Friday that he didn't intend to incite violence against Obama or anyone else. He says "that's just stupid" and "would be wrong and reprehensible."

The one-term Republican congressman and radio host from suburban Chicago posted the tweet after five police officers were killed and seven wounded during a protest of fatal shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota.

His tweet read: "This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you."

The post has been deleted.

___

UPDATE (11:40 a.m.)

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting in the investigation into a shooting in downtown Dallas that left five police officers dead.

The agency said Friday that it won't immediately release information about the type of weapons used in the attack during a demonstration Thursday to protest the killing of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota by white police officers.

Officers at the scene of the shooting say some kind of rifle was used.

Weapons such as the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle are easy to fire and generally accurate. Little or no training is required to fire such weapons and they are widely available.

Seven officers and two civilians were also wounded in the attack.

___

UPDATE (11:30 a.m.)

Attorney General Loretta Lynch is calling for peace and calm in the wake of the attack on police officers in Dallas, saying that violence is never the answer.

Lynch said Friday at the Justice Department in Washington that it has been a week of heartbreak and loss for the nation.

Five police officers were killed by gunfire in Dallas Thursday night at a peaceful protest march prompted by the shootings by police of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Lynch says the spate of violence can't be allowed to "precipitate a new normal." Calling the Dallas attack "an unfathomable tragedy," she says those concerned about suspect killings by police should not be discouraged "by those who use your lawful actions as a cover for their heinous violence."

___

UPDATE (11:15 a.m.)

Investigators can be seen walking in and out of a suburban Dallas house believed to be that of a man suspected in the overnight attack that killed five Dallas police officers and wounded seven others.

About a half-dozen police vehicles are parked outside the two-story brick home in Mesquite thought to be that of Micah Johnson.

Authorities haven't publicly disclosed the name of a suspect whom police killed with a robot-delivered bomb after negotiations failed. But a law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information told The Associated Press that he was 25-year-old Micah Johnson.

Mesquite authorities say they were at the home to assist Dallas investigators.

Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.

___

UPDATE (10:50 a.m.)

The president of the NAACP is calling for policies, not handwringing, in the wake of the deadly attack on police in Dallas.

Cornell William Brooks made the comment in an interview Friday on "CBS This Morning." He says that includes establishing a national standard for excessive use of force and federal laws that address police accountability and community trust.

The attack began Thursday night at a protest over recent killings by police of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Five officers were killed and seven others were wounded. Two civilians were also wounded and police killed a suspect.

Brooks says citizens are afraid and capturing more fatal shootings by police on video due to a minority of officers "who defile the profession by their conduct."

___

UPDATE (10:20 a.m.)

A robotics expert says Dallas police appear to be the first law enforcement agency to use a robot to kill.

Peter W. Singer, of the New America Foundation, says the killing of a suspect in Thursday night's fatal shooting of five police officers is the first instance of which he's aware of a robot being used lethally by police.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters that after hours of failed negotiations and in order to not put any officers in harm's way, his department used a robot to deliver a bomb that killed the suspect. Brown said they saw no other option.

Singer said in an email Friday that when he was researching his 2009 book "Wired for War" a U.S. soldier told him troops in Iraq sometimes used MARCbot surveillance robots against insurgents.

___

UPDATE (10:10 a.m.)

A Texas law enforcement official has told The Associated Press that a slain suspect in the attack on Dallas police was 25-year-old Micah Johnson.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he said he was not authorized to release the information. There were no immediate details on the suspect's middle name or hometown.

The attack began Thursday night during a protest about the recent killings by police of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Five officers were killed and seven others were wounded. Two civilians were also wounded.

Police Chief David Brown said Friday that his department used a robot-delivered bomb to kill a suspect after hours of negotiations failed. He says the suspect expressed anger over recent killings by police of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.

___

UPDATE (9:40 a.m.)

House Speaker Paul Ryan says anger over the police shootings in Dallas must not be allowed to harden the nation's divisions.

Speaking Friday on the House Floor, Ryan said that "justice will be done."

He says it's been a "long month for America" and that the nation has seen terrible and senseless things.

But he says that in debating how to respond, "let's not lose sight of the values that unite us, our common humanity."

Ryan says: "A few perpetrators of evil do not represent us; they do not control us."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took the floor after Ryan, joining in his expression of grief and thanking Dallas police officers for their service.

Pelosi says: "Justice will be done, justice must be done. Also mercy must be done."

___

UPDATE (9:10 a.m.)

Dallas' police chief says a suspect in the deadly overnight attack on police officers told negotiators that he acted alone and was unaffiliated with any group.

Chief David Brown said at a news conference Friday that the suspect also said he was upset about recent police shootings and wanted to kill white people, particularly white officers.

He says officers killed the suspect with a robot-delivered bomb after hours of negotiations failed.

Although Brown says the suspect said he acted alone, it remains unclear if that was the case. He said earlier Friday that three other suspects were in custody, but he later declined to discuss those detentions and said police still didn't know if investigators had accounted for all participants in the attack.

The attack began Thursday night during a protest about the recent killings by police of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Five officers were killed and seven others were wounded. Two civilians were also wounded.

UPDATE (8:55 a.m.)

Police Chief David Brown says a suspect in the overnight attack that killed five police officers, wounded seven others and wounded two civilians said he was upset over the recent police shootings of black men and wanted to kill white people.

Brown said at a news conference Friday that the suspect made the comments before he was killed by an explosive used by police.

He says his department and their families are grieving and that the divisiveness between police and the public must stop.

Authorities say snipers opened fire on police officers during a peaceful protest in downtown Dallas Thursday night over the recent fatal shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Authorities say three other suspects were arrested.

----

UPDATE (7:25 a.m.)

A man wrongly identified by Dallas police as a suspect in a sniper attack on police says he turned himself in and was quickly released.

The Dallas Police Department put out a photo on its Twitter account late Thursday of a man wearing a camouflage shirt and holding a rifle with the message: "This is one of our suspects. Please help us find him!" The tweet remained on the account early Friday morning.

The man in the photo, Mark Hughes, tells Dallas TV station KTVT that he "flagged down a police officer" immediately after finding out he was a suspect. He says police lied during a 30-minute interrogation, telling him they had video of him shooting.

Videos posted online show Hughes walking around peacefully during the shooting and later turning over his gun to a police officer.

___

UPDATE (7:15 a.m.)

Dallas Area Rapid Transit officials say three DART police officers wounded by snipers during a protest are expected to recover.

Thursday night's shootings left four Dallas police officers and one DART officer dead, plus seven other officers wounded. The demonstration was to protest two fatal police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week.

A DART statement Friday identified the agency's three wounded personnel as 44-year-old Officer Omar Cannon, 32-year-old Officer Misty McBride and 39-year-old Officer Jesus Retana. DART spokesman Morgan Lyons did not release details of the injuries, but said all three should recover.

Officer Brent Thompson was the first DART officer killed in the line of duty since the transit agency formed a police department in 1989. Thompson was 43 and had worked as a DART officer since 2009.

___

UPDATE (7:05 a.m.)

Mayor Mike Rawlings says a total of 12 police officers and two civilians were shot during a protest march in downtown Dallas.

Rawlings said Friday that he does not believe that any of the wounded victims have life-threatening injuries.

He says five officers were killed and seven more were injured when snipers opened fire during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men.

___

UPDATE (6:40 a.m.)

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says the suspect involved in an overnight standoff with police died after officers used explosives to "blast him out."

Rawlings said Friday that he was not sure how the suspect died or what weapons were found on him.

He says police have swept the area where the standoff took place and found no explosives.

Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas Thursday evening, killing five officers and injuring six others during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men.

___

UPDATE (6 a.m.)

People gathered in small groups on Dallas' tense, police-filled streets before dawn early Friday struggled to fathom the still-unsettled situation.

Resident Jalisa Jackson says: "I think the biggest thing that we've had something like this is when JFK died," evoking the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the city's streets. She calls it "surreal."

Police said at least four suspects were involved in the killings of five police officers just hours before. The suspects were not immediately identified.

Downtown, officers crouched beside vehicles, SWAT team armored vehicles arrived and a helicopter hovered overhead.

Eleven Dallas officers were shot Thursday night during a peaceful protest over this week's fatal police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota in what the city's police chief characterized as a sniper attack.

___

UPDATE (5:45 a.m.)

Dallas police say no explosives have been found in extensive sweeps of downtown areas following the fatal shooting of five police officers and the wounding of six others by snipers.

Security was tight Friday morning with numerous streets closed to vehicle traffic in the main downtown Dallas business district hours after Thursday night's attacks.

The gunfire happened during protests over this week's fatal police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota of two black men. Police have detained at least three people in the investigation of the Dallas shootings.

Police said a fourth suspect was engaged in a standoff with authorities and had made threats about bombs.

Maj. Max Geron (GAYR'-uhn) tweeted before dawn Friday that primary and secondary sweeps for explosives were complete and no explosives were found.

The gunfire claimed the lives of four Dallas police officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer. DART serves Dallas and a dozen other North Texas cities. The transit agency operates buses and the state's largest municipal rail system.

___

UPDATE (5:20 a.m.)

A memorial group says the slaying of five police officers in Dallas in an attack blamed on snipers was the deadliest day in U.S. law enforcement history since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Four Dallas police officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer were fatally shot Thursday night. The gunfire happened during protests over this week's fatal police shootings of two black men, in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Six other officers were wounded in the Dallas attacks.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which monitors the deaths of officers, reports 72 officers were killed as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. The group labels that attack as the deadliest day in U.S. law enforcement history.

UPDATE (6:44 a.m.): Dallas officials say three suspects are in custody and a fourth suspect has been killed after a gunfire exchange with police inside a parking garage. According to CNN, one suspect claims that bombs were planted downtown. 

---

UPDATE (4:32 a.m): Officials confirm 5 officers were killed during protests in Dallas, Texas. Dallas police say two suspects are in custody. 6 officers remain in the hospital.

---

Dallas police chief: 2 snipers apparently shot 10 police officers during protests; 3 officers are dead.

UPDATE (10:45 p.m.)

The Dallas police chief says it appears two snipers shot 10 police officers during protests, and three of the officers are dead.

Police Chief David O. Brown said in a statement that three of the officers who were injured are in critical condition Thursday night. He says the snipers shot from "elevated positions" during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.

The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.

__

UPDATE (10:45 p.m.)

Dallas police chief says it appears two snipers shot 10 police officers during protests, and three of the officers are dead.

Dallas police chief David O. Brown said in a statement that three of the officers who were injured are in critical condition Thursday night.

The officers were shut during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.

----

UPDATE (10:30 p.m.)

Police say one rapid-transit officer has been killed and three injured when gunfire erupted during a protest in downtown Dallas.

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit issued the news via its official Twitter account. The agency said the three injured officers were expected to survive. No identifications were released.

___

UPDATE (10:15 p.m.)

Police in Dallas say they're trying to sort through what happened when gunshots rang out during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.

The police statement comes as multiple media outlets report that two officers were shot. There has been no official confirmation of that.

Dallas Police Sr. Corporal Debra Webb said in the statement that police were sorting through information at what was "clearly still an active scene."

The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.

___

UPDATE (9 p.m.)

Multiple media outlets report shots have been fired at a Dallas protest over two recent fatal police shootings.

The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover. There was no immediate word on whether anyone had been injured.

Scores of police and security officers were on hand.

A police dispatcher reached by The Associated Press had no immediate comment.

___

(6:45 p.m.)

Hundreds of people gathered in Union Square Park in Manhattan and took to the streets to protest the recent police-related shootings of two black men.

The protesters on Thursday chanted "The people united, never be divided" and "Hands up don't shoot." Police scrambled to keep up with the crowd as the group left the park and marched up Fifth Avenue.

On Wednesday, a Minnesota officer 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.