In Wake of Dallas Shooting, More Officers Attacked In Other States

The Dallas police chief said the sniper attack that left five police officers dead was "well planned" and a "well thought out evil tragedy."

Seven other police officers were wounded in the attack during a protest over the shooting deaths of two black men by police in other states. Two civilians were also injured.

In Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee, authorities said gun-wielding civilians also shot officers in individual attacks that came after Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed this week in Louisiana and Minnesota. Two officers were wounded, one critically.
    
"America is weeping,"Rep. G.K. Butterfield, head of the Congressional Black Caucus said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asked for the public's prayers. In a letter posted online Friday, Abbott said "every life matters" and urged Texans to come together." In the end," he wrote, "evil always fails."

Dallas Police Chief David Brown spoke at an inter-faith prayer vigil in downtown Dallas Friday. He said his force "won't rest until we bring everyone involved to justice."

Authorities say a suburban St. Louis police officer was "ambushed" during a traffic stop Friday and shot at least once, wounding him critically, the Associated Press reports.

Dallas Police Officers

It's the deadliest attack against U.S. law enforcement since 9/11 and it happened just blocks from where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

Four of the officers killed worked for the Dallas Police Department and one worked for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Agency.

Patrick Zamarripa, 32, was a five year police veteran who had also served eight years in Iraq for the U.S. Navy. 

“You always think of somebody that would die in war or get killed in Iraq in a foreign country. But not here,” Maria Zamarripa, his stepmom, told the Daily News the day after his death.“You always think of somebody that would die in war or get killed in Iraq in a foreign country. But not here,” Maria Zamarripa, 50, told the Daily News the day after his death.

Brent Thompson was the first cop identifed after the shooting. The 43-year-old Dallas Transit Authority officer is the first officer to die in that agency's line of duty. He was a seven year transit force veteran. 

"Brent was a great officer," James Spiller, police chief of DART told CNN. "He was an outstanding patrol officer as well as a rail officer. We have the highest respect for him."

He had just gotten married to another officer two weeks before the shooting.

Michael Krol, 40, joined the Dallas Police Department in 2007, and friends and family say he was very committed to the job. 

"He got into law enforcement and worked really hard to be a police officer," Krol's uncle Jim Ehlke told WDIV. "He spent some time at the correctional facility. It wasn't quite what he was looking for, so he worked pretty hard to find a job and got one in Dallas."

Shooting Suspects

Authorities are not sure how many shooters were involved. They are holding three suspects in custody and a fourth, identified as 25-year-old Micah X. Johnson, is dead.

Johnson was a private first class in the Army from the Dallas suburb of Mesquite. He specialized in carpentry and masonry and served in the Army Reserve for six years. He served one tour in Afghanistan from November 2013 to July 2014.

Dallas police killed Johnson with a robot-delivered bomb after hours of failed negotiations and exchanging fire with him in a parking garage.

A robotics expert, Peter W. Singer with the New America Foundation, said Dallas police are the first law enforcement agency to use a robot to kill.

Chief Brown said Johnson told officers he was upset about the police shootings in other states and wanted to kill whites and "especially white officers."

Brown said the suspect also told police that he was not connected with any groups and that he acted alone.

Peaceful Demonstration Takes a Turn

The demonstration began Thursday night as a peaceful rally against the two recent fatal police shootings of black men. Then just before 9 p.m., what appeared to be snipers, opened fired on police.

At the time, one woman could be heard screaming, "They're shooting!"

Protesters scattered to take cover as gunfire erupted from two downtown Dallas parking garages.

At a press conference, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said, "It is a heartbreaking morning...to say that our police officers put their life on the line every day is no hyperbole ladies and gentlemen. It's a reality."

The Dallas police shootings came in the aftermath of the police shootings of a black man in Minnesota and another in Louisiana. Both incidents were captured on cell phones and the Minnesota incident was live-streamed on Facebook.

Rawlings said unity is needed.

"We as a city, we as a country must come together, lock arms and heal the wounds that we all feel from time to time. Words matter, leadership matters at this time," he said.

Other Attacks on Police

The other attacks on police included a Georgia man who authorities said called 911 to report a break-in, then ambushed the officer who came to investigate. That sparked a shootout in which both the officer and suspect were wounded but expected to survive.
    
In suburban St. Louis, a motorist shot an officer at least once as the officer walked back to his car during a traffic stop, police said. The officer was hospitalized in critical condition.
    
A Tennessee man accused of shooting indiscriminately at passing cars and police on a highway told investigators he was angry about police violence against African-Americans, authorities said.
    
Elsewhere in Texas, police shot and killed a man early Saturday after he was spotted standing in a Houston road with a revolver. Authorities said officers told the man to put down the weapon, but he instead pointed it in the air, then at the police.

President Barack Obama, who is in Poland for a NATO summit, said the entire nation grieves with Dallas.

"I'd ask all Americans to say a prayer for these officers and their families, keep them in your thoughts and as a nation let's remember to express our profound gratitude to our men and women in blue not just today, but on every day," the president said.