Dallas Police: No Other Option But To Use "Bomb Robot" To Kill Shooter
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DALLAS, Texas (CBSMiami/AP) -- Following an exchange of gunfire and hours of negotiations, a Dallas Police chief said he saw no alternative but to employ a highly unusual method to strike back at a sniper who ambushed officers with a high-powered rifle during a peaceful civil rights protest in the city.
Officials said Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, shot 12 officers and two civilians while hundreds gathered to march in the streets. As shots rang out, chaos ensued with people running for their lives. Dallas Police, as well, were left scrambling to identify where the gunfire was coming from.
Five of the officers struck by the high-powered rounds died.
Eventually, police determined Johnson's location and cornered him. They attempted to negotiate with him for several hours. Johnson told police he was upset about the recent shooting deaths of two black men around the country at the hands of police.
"The suspect said he was upset at white people," said Dallas Police Chief David Brown. "The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers."
Negotiations eventually broke down.
"We had an exchange of gunfire with the suspect. We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was," said Chief Brown. "Other options would have exposed the officers to grave danger."
The robot rolled its way toward Johnson where it detonated, killing him in the blast -- the same robot authorities use to detonate explosive devices.
Johnson was known by his family and neighbors as an "Army strong" veteran who served in Afghanistan and loved playground basketball back home in suburban Dallas. He was a private first class with a military occupational specialty of carpentry and masonry. Toward the end of his tenure, Johnson was deployed to Afghanistan from November 2013 and returned in July 2014. His service ended in April 2015.
On what appears to be Johnson's Facebook page, photographs posted by someone who identified herself as a relative showed him in a U.S. Army uniform and holding an unknown object as though it were a weapon.
The relative also left a comment on his birthday in 2014 that called him "definitely Army strong" and an "entertaining, loving, understanding, not to mention handsome friend, brother (and) son."
Chief Brown added in a news conference Friday that Johnson said he'd acted alone and was unaffiliated with any group, though it remains unclear whether that was the case.
Brown also said there were others in custody but he would not discuss the nature of those detentions and added that police still didn't know if investigators had accounted for all participants in the attack.
After Johnson was killed, a relative posted onto her Facebook page, "I keep saying its not true...my eyes hurt from crying. Y him??? And why was he downtown."
For several hours Friday morning, police blocked access to the home where Johnson was believed to have lived in Mesquite, a blue-collar suburb about 30 minutes outside of Dallas. Investigators in Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives vests were seen carrying out several bags of material.
Just before noon Friday, officers stopped blocking the neighborhood street.
Nearby, Israel Cooper said Johnson went by the name Xavier. Cooper says Johnson had a "cool vibe" and wasn't really political but did seem educated.
He says he played basketball with him at a park near the house. He says, "He would be out there for eight hours. Like it was his job. Just hoopin'."
Cooper said that when he heard the suspect was Johnson, he "was in disbelief because he's just not like a violent or rough dude."
"So I was, 'nah, it's probably another Xavier somewhere, you know.' But then, with pictures on the internet and stuff, I'm like 'OK,'" said Cooper. "It's the quiet ones that just do the most devastating stuff. You never see it coming. But then it's more expected, like 'I should have known.'"
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