Bomb-making material, body armour, guns found in Dallas shooter's home
Police searching the home of Micah Xavier Johnson on Friday found bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics, news sources say.
Johnson, 25, who killed five Dallas police officers and wounded seven others in Thursday's shooting. had no criminal record or known terror ties, a law enforcement official said. His shooting spree was brought to an end when police detonated robot-borne explosives, negotiations having failed.
Johnson served in the U.S. Army Reserve from March 2009 to April 2015, was deployed for about seven months in Afghanistan in 2013 and had received an honorable discharge. The sniper is reported to have used an SKS semi-automatic rifle for the shooting and had legally bought multiple firearms in the past.
Investigators determined Johnson was "the lone shooter in this incident," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told a news conference.
"This was a mobile shooter who had written manifestos on how to shoot and move, shoot and move, and that's what he did," Rawlings said.
"As we've started to unravel this fishing knot, we've come to realize this shooting came from one building at different levels."
Two civilians were also injured,in what has been described as the deadliest single incident for U.S. law enforcement since September 11, 2001.
Three suspects were in custody earlier Friday, but were later released. There was some initial confusion about the number of shooters, said the Mayor, because about 20 protesters wearing protective vests and carrying rifles had also scattered when the shooting started.
Police initially said at least two snipers fired "ambush-style" from an "elevated position" before they exchanged gunfire and negotiated with a suspect, later identified as Johnson, for hours at a parking garage in downtown Dallas.
The Dallas police chief told reporters that it was too early to speculate on the suspect's motives and that it was unclear whether there were any accomplices still at large.
During the standoff, Johnson told police negotiators that he was upset about recent police shootings, that he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers, and that he acted alone, the police chief said.
"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," Brown said. "Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger. The suspect is deceased as a result of detonating the bomb."
This, and at least three other police shootings yesterday, come as Americans took to the streets nationwide, demanding answers over the unjustified killings of two black men by police in two days - both captured on video. The shooting, in Minnesota, of Philando Castille during a routine traffic stop caused particular anger. Castille was shot dead by a police officer while reaching for his wallet, having been pulled over for a broken tail light, while his fiancee and 4 year old child looked on. His fiancee streamed the immediate aftermath of the shooting live on Facebook.
