Breaking | Snipers open fire on police in Dallas, killing five officers and wounding seven more
Witnesses at protests against police violence report dozens of gunshots that sounded like semi-automatic rifle fire
At least two snipers opened fire on police officers during protests in Dallas on Thursday night, killing five officers and injuring nine others, and another two civilians, police said.
Police earlier said 11 officers were shot and five were killed.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters the snipers fired “ambush style” upon the officers. He said police had a suspect cornered and were negotiating with him. Brown said 11 officers were shot, three of them fatally. Police later tweeted that a fifth officer had died. At least one more was in surgery. Some of the victims were shot in the back.
The officers were shot during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
Police said one suspect whom they had engaged in a shoot-out had been arrested and a bomb squad unit was investigating a suspicious package found near the suspect’s location.
A second “person of interest” had turned himself in, they added, though there was no word on the arrest of a possible second sniper.