Gunman killed after attacking Dallas officers
DALLAS — A man planted pipe bombs outside Dallas police headquarters and sprayed the building with bullets during a wild street battle early Saturday that authorities said miraculously left no one dead or injured except the suspect, who was fatally shot in his van by a police sniper.
Police Chief David Brown said the suspect identified himself to authorities as James Boulware, and he blamed police for having lost custody of his son and for “accusing him of being a terrorist.” But authorities declined to confirm the identity of the suspect until a medical examiner verified it. Police arrived at the home of Boulware’s father as an Associated Press reporter was there later Saturday and began ques- tioning the elder Boulware, also named James.
According to police, the younger Boulware opened fire on the building from his parked van. Bullets pierced the glass at the entrance and caused damage inside, including at the front desk.
He also fired on officers who drove up to confront him, riddling at least one squad car with bullets but not hitting anyone. Cell phone video shot from nearby showed the suspect’s dark-colored van ram a squad car as gunshots rang out.
The van fled, eventually stopping in a restaurant parking lot in the suburb of Hutchins, where a standoff followed.
Boulware told police negotiators that he had explosives in the van, and Brown said at a news conference that the department decided to shoot him because it felt he still posed enough of a threat.
“When the negotiation was on, he became increasingly angry and threatening, such that we were not only concerned with our officers there trying to contain the scene being shot by him at a moment’s notice,” but also people nearby, Brown said.
Investigators found a pack- age of pipe bombs in the parking lot at police headquarters and at least two more pipe bombs in the van, police said.
Wary that the van may have been rigged with explosives, police used a camera-equipped robot to inspect it rather than have officers approach it immediately, which was why it took several hours to confirm Boulware was dead.
Boulware had strong feelings against law enforcement after he lost custody of his son, now 12 or 13 years old, his father said.
“Not being able to get a job and the legal system letting him down, (he) finally snapped,” the elder James Boulware said in a telephone interview before police arrived. “But I can’t say shooting at a police station is right in any way.”