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Dallas police shooting suspect identified as Micah Xavier Johnson - latest updates

Johnson was killed by a police robot bomb after talks with police broke down

Samuel Osborne
New York
,Rachael Revesz
Friday 08 July 2016 02:00 EDT
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Dallas gunman wanted to kill white police officers

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Here are the latest updates:

Snipers opened fire on police officers in Dallas, killing five officers and injuring seven others during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men, police said.

One suspect exchanged gunfire with police and was arrested early on Friday morning. A suspicious package was found near the suspect and a bomb squad had begun investigating the threat.

Two others were taken into custody early Friday morning, and during a standoff with police, a fourth told officers bombs were planted all across the city.

After a lengthy standoff with police, the suspect is believed to have been killed by a police bomb robot. Earlier reports suggested he had shot himself.

The shooter said he "wanted to kill white people, especially white officers," Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters.

Earlier, the suspect said "more will die" and claimed to have planted explosives throughout the area. No explosives were found in two searches of the downtown area.

The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday while hundreds of people were gathered to protest fatal police shootings this week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota. Police Chief Brown told reporters the snipers fired "ambush style" upon the officers. Mayor Mike Rawlings said one member of the public was wounded in the gunfire.

Protests were also held in several other cities across the country Thursday night after a Minnesota officer on Wednesday fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a car with a woman and a child. The aftermath of the shooting was livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video. A day earlier, Alton Sterling was shot in Louisiana after being pinned to the pavement by two white officers. That, too, was captured on a mobile phone video.

Facebook Live video documents start of Texas shooting

Video footage from the Dallas scene showed protesters were marching along a street in downtown, about half a mile from City Hall, when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.

Chief Brown said that it appeared the shooters "planned to injure and kill as many officers as they could."

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