On Thursday evening, chaos broke out in Dallas when multiple officers were shot at what was meant to be a peaceful protest. The crowds that gathered in Dallas mourned the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, who were both shot by police this week. Those killings took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Falcon Heights, Minnesota, respectively.
In Dallas, however, the waves of Black Lives Matter protesters were joined by police officers who marched alongside them. The Dallas PD even live tweeted this video from the event.
Demonstrators marching eastbound on Commerce. pic.twitter.com/nFMkRhFQUc
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) July 8, 2016
WFAA in Dallas has now issued a statement from Dallas Police Chief David Brown, who reveals that that two snipers at elevated positions shot at least eleven officers. Four of those officers are dead while three remain in critical condition. Two more officers are in surgery. At this time, no suspects are confirmed by the department to be apprehended, but the Dallas PD released a photo of a suspect and then recategorized him as “a person of interest.”
(Stay tuned because this gets bumpy in a moment.)
https://twitter.com/DallasPD/status/751262719584575488
At that point, Twitter users bombarded the department with photos of the same man, who appeared to be standing peacefully during the event. His brother spoke with CBS to say he did nothing wrong, and he also appears in a video after shots were fired. But…
Shots fired at #blacklivesmattertx March @dallasnews pic.twitter.com/2TqIQgkXVm
— The Dallas Morning News Photo/Video (@DallasNewsPhoto) July 8, 2016
The Dallas PD reports that the person of interest has now turned himself into police. He’s cooperating fully, and the police are still on the lookout for suspects, one of which left a suspicious package that’s being secured and inspected by a bomb squad.
Update: pic.twitter.com/qBJe3q0EtN
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) July 8, 2016