Dallas Shooting Suspect 'Wanted to Kill White People'

The U.S. Army identified the suspect in the shooting on Thursday evening towards police officers in Dallas as 'Micah Xavier Johnson', stating that he was a reserve force and had previously served in Afghanistan. The police reported that he intended to 'kill white people, especially white officers'. According to the Associated Press, he was a first-class soldier and resided in Mesquite, Texas. He served in the 420th Engineering Unit in Texas, specializing in carpentry and masonry. The U.S. Army stated that Johnson's service lasted from March 2009 to April 2015. The Dallas shooting suspect was deployed to Afghanistan in November 2013 and returned to the U.S. in July 2014. In the shootings on Thursday evening, July 7, five police officers were killed and seven others were injured in central Texas. According to Reuters, the shootings occurred at the end of protests by a group of people against the killings of two black men by police officers. As the shooting began, demonstrators fled the scene in panic, and police officers were targeted by several armed individuals using high-powered rifles from rooftops and ground level. According to David Brown, the chief of the Dallas Police Department, one of the armed individuals stated during lengthy negotiations with police that he wanted to kill white people and white police officers, expressing anger over the killings of black individuals by police. He referenced the protest movement against police violence known as 'Black Lives Matter' but emphasized that he was not affiliated with any group. The recent killings of two black men in Louisiana and Minneapolis are the latest incidents in a series of similar events that have led to nationwide protests regarding racial discrimination, violence against blacks, and demands for justice over the past two years. U.S. media, citing unnamed police officials, reported that the shooter was a 25-year-old man named Micah Johnson. The girlfriend of Alton Sterling, a black man who was shot dead by police in Louisiana days earlier, condemned the attack on police officers in Dallas in a statement. A Twitter account claiming to represent the 'Black Lives Matter' movement stated, 'Our movement is for justice, freedom, and human dignity, not murder.' According to statistics from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, considering the fatalities from Thursday evening in Dallas, the number of police officers killed by gunfire this year has reached 26. This figure represents a 44% increase compared to the same months last year, which saw 18 fatalities. In response to the attacks in Dallas, many police departments in major U.S. cities were on high alert, and officers in New York and Boston were instructed to work in pairs. Reuters added that the shooting at police officers in Dallas began simultaneously with the end of the demonstrators' gathering, causing people to flee in panic. This is the deadliest incident for U.S. police since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in New York and Washington. The mayor of Dallas stated that a total of 12 police officers and two civilians were shot. Three of the injured police officers are women. The Dallas police chief indicated that snipers with powerful rifles were positioned in elevated areas, suggesting that this was a coordinated attack. He mentioned that several individuals have been arrested in connection with the incident, but the police have not yet been able to obtain information from them. The police chief refrained from disclosing how many individuals participated in the shooting due to investigative considerations. U.S. government officials also announced on Friday that there were no signs of foreign involvement or contact in this incident.