Chilling shooter photo
WAITING outside a federal courtrthouse, photographer Tom Fox took ok in Dallas’ 8am bustle.
People dressed for work got out of cars. A homeless man danced on a street pole.
But when what initially sounded d like a truck backfiring clarified into gunshots, the routine assignment for a veteran journalist morphed in a moment.
As shots echoed off the tall buildldings, an armed officer dashed past The Dallas Morning News photographer. r.
A man came around the corner ner half a block away and Fox pulled out his long lens — focusing in on green military-style garb, a mask and a belt full of ammunition.
The gun barrel swung around. Fox squeezed off a last frame. And he ran for cover behind a column in the building’s facade.
“I was just praying in that corner that he wasn’t going to pass me,” Fox, 51, said. “I was just afraid he was going to be running with a gun. He was going to pass me, see me, identify me with the camera and shoot me.”
Fox’s photos offer a rare in-themoment glimpse of the type of shootings most Americans only see after the fact.
Officials have praised the training and courage of the Federal Protective Service officers who confronted the shooter, Brian Isaack Clyde, shooting him dead in the building’s carpark.
But little information has emerged on what motivated the attack.
On what appeared to be his Facebook page, Clyde posted frequently about weapons. A post on Monday with a photo of a short sword has the caption: “A modern gladius to defend the modern Republic.”
A Sunday post features a photo of gun magazines.
He captioned a video posted June 9 — the day a severe storm hit Dallas: “This storm is about to pay for kicking me off my porch.”
In that video Clyde talks to the camera in a candlelit room. He says, “I don’t know how much longer I have, but the … storm is coming. However, I’m not without defence.”
He then lifts a long gun, saying he’s “ready” and “Let’s do it”.
Federal authorities have not confirmed the authenticity of the Facebook page, which was taken down Tuesday after the shooting.
Fox said the man pictured in it is the same person he saw at the courthouse.
After graduating from high school in Austin in 2015, Clyde went into the US Army. He served as an infantryman from August 2015 to February 2017 and achieved the rank of private first class, according to the army.
Clyde graduated last month from Del Mar College, a community college in Corpus Christi. He was recognised as an outstanding student at a ceremony in April, according to a statement from the college.
Crouched in his corner, Fox listened to the sounds of gunfire and shattering glass. A video shows bullets strike the wall above him.
Fox began recording video, but said the shots were louder in person than they ever are on the screen.
“It was very intense, and it seemed like it wasn’t going to stop,” he said.
“I just waited and waited and waited for almost an eternity.”
When an officer eventually appeared across the street, Fox said he was determined to find the gunman and “crept along” with police through a nearby parking lot.
Fox said he didn’t see Clyde get shot. “The last I saw him was in my camera lens down the street, and I’m thankful that I never saw him until I saw him lying face down in the parking lot,” he said.