DALLAS POLICE CHIEF: SHOOTER SCRAWLED ‘ RB’ IN BLOOD ON WALL
Dallas officials continue probe
The gunman who killed five Dallas police officers in a chaotic shooting rampage last week scrawled the letters “RB” on a wall with his blood before he was killed with a remote- controlled robot bomb, Police Chief David Brown said Sunday.
Brown told CNN the letters and other markings indicated Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, was wounded in a shootout with police during a protest march Thursday night in downtown Dallas. Brown said investigators were going through Johnson’s laptop, journals and cellphones trying to determine the signifi-
cance of the scrawlings.
Brown said the Army veteran demanded a black negotiator, which he got. As negotiations dragged on, Brown said he became concerned that Johnson “would charge us and take out many more” officers.
“He just basically lied to us, playing games, laughing at us, singing, asking how many did he get and that he wanted to kill some more,” Brown said.
Investigators found evidence indicating Johnson “was delusional” and planned a much larger attack targeting officers, the police chief said. He said the protest, prompted by recent shootings of African-American men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, may have motivated Johnson.
Brown said Johnson was shooting on the move — a tactic he studied at a local self- defense school about two years ago, school founder Justin Everman told the Associated Press.
Johnson was cornered behind a brick wall in a parking garage, but Brown determined that any attempt to arrest or shoot him would be too dangerous. Brown said he approved using the bomb, which he described as about 1 pound of C4, a plastic explosive.
“Without our actions, he would have hurt more officers,” Brown told CNN’s State of the Union. “We had no choice in my mind but to use all tools necessary.” He dismissed critics who suggested Johnson could have been subdued with non- lethal weapons such as tear gas. “I don’t give much quarter to those who ask these type of questions from comfort and safety away from the incident,” he said.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said on CBS’ Face the Nation that Johnson was given an opportunity to surrender. “We ask him, ‘ Do you want to come out safely, or do you want to stay there and we’re going to take you down?’ And he chose the latter,” Rawlings said.
Brown said three people arrested after the shootings included two men who arrived at the protest carrying semiautomatic rifles and a woman with them. He said that after the shootings began and people were running everywhere, the group was arrested as a precaution. None had anything to do with the shootings, he said.
President Obama, who will visit Dallas on Tuesday to attend a memorial service, said police and activists need to listen to each other. He said violence against police is a “reprehensible crime” that needs to be prosecuted.