Shootings carried out with assault-style weapons inevitably lead to renewed cries to ban these types of firearms. ![]() So far, police have only said the suspect used a rifle in the attack. He also reported seeing the gunman empty multiple magazines. One witness, who filmed a suspect gunning down a police officer at point-blank range, told CNN that the gunman was armed with an AR-15-style rifle. ![]() One of the gunman was armed with a semiautomatic rifle, though the exact model is unknown.ĬBS News reports that Johnson wore body armor in the attack, and was armed with an SKS semiautomatic rifle and a handgun. Last night’s shooting came 13 months after a man in an armored truck used a semi-automatic weapon to spray bullets at Dallas Police headquarters. Other notable ambushes include an incident in a suburban Seattle coffee shop in 2009, when four officers were gunned down. In five of those years, 15 or more officers were killed in ambushes. That accounts for about 21 percent of all felonious killings during that time. But the second-most-common circumstance in which officers were feloniously killed, over the last 10 years for which data is available, is “ambush situations”: unprovoked attacks on police officers, like the Dallas attacks.įrom 2004 to 2014, 118 officers were killed in ambush situations. The plurality of felonious killings happens during arrests - especially of robbery or burglary suspects. (This accounting includes officers who died in Dallas.)Īs Vox reports, Thursday’s shooting may drive up the number of police fatalities this year, but does not mean that attacks on police are increasing. So far in 2016, 26 officers have died in firearm-related incidents, an increase of 44 percent over the same period last year. Since 2000, according to FBI statistics, 791 police officers have been killed feloniously - an average of 55 per year. The deliberate killing of police officers is rare. The Dallas attack claimed the most police lives since 9/11, when 71 police officers died in New York, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. The Dallas ambush was the worst targeted shooting of law enforcement officers in recent memory. The attacker was killed last night after a standoff with police devolved into gunfire, which led police to send in a robot equipped with a bomb and detonate it.Īt a press conference Friday morning, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said one of the attackers told negotiators he was angry about the recent spate of police shootings, and that he was targeting white people, especially white officers.īelow, six pieces of key context to keep in mind as more details emerge. President Barack Obama decried the “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement.” He added that “there’s no possible justification for these kinds of attacks, or any violence against law enforcement.” ![]() Jeff Hood, “but they don’t teach you about this.” “They teach you so much about organizing,” said Dr. “We continue to stand with the families of these officers and pray with them, as well as we stand with the families of Alton Sterling and Philando in Minnesota.” “We want Dallas to know that violence of any kind we condemn,” Dominique Alexander, founder of Next Generation Action Network, told the Dallas Morning News. The march was convened by a white minister and a black activist, each of whom denounced the attack. One video apparently shows a gunman shooting a police officer in the back. In videos posted on social media, the sound of gunfire is deafening. Another seven officers were also struck by bullets, as were two civilians, including a woman who was hit as she shielded her children. A peaceful protest over the recent fatal shootings of two black men by police spiraled into chaos on Thursday night in Dallas, as gunmen opened fire on law enforcement officers monitoring the crowd.įive police officers, including one transit officer, have died.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |