Dallas shooter ‘sexually harassed’ fellow soldier

Army veteran was sent home from posting in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: Micah Johnson, the Dallas killer of five police officers, was a military veteran discharged over sexual harassment charges and had begun showing interest in black-power groups in recent months.

He changed his Facebook profile to a shot of him with a known black-power singer in April and posted a picture of himself on the social media site with his fist in the air in May, according to the Dallas Morning News.

The posts, which have since been taken down, did not, however, point to his Thursday night sniper assault in which he killed five officers and wounded seven and two civilians.

Johnson, 25, had told police negotiators, who were trying to persuade him to surrender early on Friday morning, he “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers”.

He had referred to the Black Lives Matter movement and cited the killings of African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week by white police officers.

But Johnson may have been planning this for much longer as he told negotiators he had “worked out in preparation” of the assault, according to multiple local media reports.

Police investigators found bomb-making materials at his home in a middle-class neighbourhood in Mesquite, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics.

Police now believe Johnson acted alone, as he had told negotiators, and people taken into custody earlier on suspicion of working with him have since been released.

Johnson had served with the US military in Afghanistan for a year. His time there was troubling.

While the Dallas Morning News said he “received several awards for his service”, it also said, as did others such as The New York Times, he had been thrown out.

A female soldier serving in his unit had accused him of sexual harassment, and had said he needed “mental health” and sought protective order for herself and her family.

Johnson was discharged in April 2015. While in the military, Johnson was not on combat duty — his job speciality was as a mason and carpenter — but he liked guns and weapons.