‘Army strong’ veteran didn’t seem political
Relatives and friends shocked that former Afghan soldier committed killing spree
Micah Xavier Johnson was known by his family and neighbours as an “Army strong” veteran who served in Afghanistan and loved playground basketball back home in suburban Dallas.
He’s now known more widely as the 25-year-old armed suspect killed Friday just hours after five police officers were fatally shot and seven wounded after a downtown demonstration.
Johnson was killed during a threehour long standoff with police in a parking garage.
Johnson was believed to have shared a two-storey tan brick home in Mesquite, about 30 minutes east of Dallas, with family members. He graduated from John Horn High School in Mesquite, school district officials said.
He began serving the army in March 2009, army officials said. Johnson was a private first class with a military occupational specialty of carpentry and masonry. Toward the end of his tenure, Johnson was deployed to Afghanistan from November 2013 and returned in July 2014. His service ended in April 2015.
On what appears to be Johnson’s Facebook page, photographs posted by someone who identified herself as a relative showed him in a U.S. army uniform and holding an unknown object as though it were a weapon.
The relative also left a comment on his birthday in 2014 that called him “definitely Army strong” and an “entertaining, loving, understanding, not to mention handsome, friend, brother (and) son.”
After Johnson was killed, a relative posted onto her Facebook page, “I keep saying its not true . . . my eyes hurt from crying. Y him??? And why was he downtown.” She did not respond to Facebook messages.
Dallas police Chief David Brown said the shooter wanted to kill white people, specifically police officers.
“He said he was upset about the recent police shootings,” Brown said during the Friday morning news conference. “The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”
Brown added in a news conference Friday that the suspect said he’d acted alone and was unaffiliated with any group, although it remains unclear whether that was the case. Brown said there were others in custody, but he would not discuss the nature of those detentions.
The chief added that police still didn’t know if investigators had accounted for all participants in the attack.
For several hours Friday morning, police blocked access to the home where Johnson was believed to have lived in Mesquite, a blue-collar suburb. Investigators in Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives vests were seen carrying out several bags of material.
Just before noon Friday, officers stopped blocking the street in Mesquite. After that, no one answered a knock on the door.
Nearby, Israel Cooper said Johnson went by the name Xavier. Cooper says Johnson had a “cool vibe” and wasn’t really political, but did seem educated.
Cooper says he played basketball with Johnson at a park near the house. He says, “He would be out there for eight hours. Like it was his job. Just hoopin’.” With files from The Washington Post and Robin Levinson King