now I noticed
Multiple officers killed at Dallas protest over police killings
Just saw this article. Turns out it's a lone wolf with that decided to take revenge for the recent shootings. I guess it was only a matter of time before this happened.
This could almost go into the "What the Heck" news: they killed him with a robot bomb???
One has to remember that this guy didn't hesitate to kill police officers. He's what can be called 'armed and extremely dangerous.' I wouldn't be surprised if the people on the scene just said,'' We can't do a siege here, can't risk more officers being killed' and let him have it. Honestly? I think it was rather smart to use a bomb like that, though it may foretold an era of robot terrorist bombs to come imho. I'd say that it is a sign of darker times to come,
Terrible developments that cannot be justified or condoned.
Having said that, and not wanting to sound callus, but just what did the US government and police expect?
The US law enforcement and criminal justice system is simply atrocious when it comes to the routine and near systematic application of grossly excessive force and violence, often in dealing with non-violent and non-threatening suspects; as well as the blatantly biased way it deals with suspects depending on their racial, and social economic status. And let's not even get started with the shameful way the way the US criminal justice system deals with people with mental health problems.
With the two often being applied together against poorer, ethnic suspects.
The now routine seeming cases of police using excessive deadly force against people of colour in America is as deplorable as it is predictable.
These are problems long acknowledged and nearly universally accepted as undeniable facts.
However, precious little has been done to change things other than the endless repetition of pro forma speeches.
Today's tragic events are the inevitable result of these injustices.
The only really surprising thing is just how long people have put up with things before some extremists snapped and decided to take things into their own hands.
Before the usual suspects jumps up and down with faux outrage, let's be clear that pointing out factors A causes Outcome B is in no way, shape or form condoning Outcome B. Just as someone someone pointing out that throwing a baby off cliff will cause the death of that child cannot be reasonably accused as approving or encouraging people to throw babies off cliffs.
Only by facing up to the true causes of thee terrible events could we hope to prevent further repeats of them.
Your reasoning reminds me of how the Western press always reports on similar incidents in China. "Even though it is horrible that many ethnic Han people were killed or maimed by Uighur 'protestors', they were compelled to such terrible deeds by the systematic persecution by the totalitarian Chinese government".
Is it so hard to condemn the killing as just a heinous act committed by an awful human being?
I know I'm late but I'm interested in that robot ... any hints?now I noticed
Multiple officers killed at Dallas protest over police killings
But Thursday night in Dallas, the situation played out with a twist. Micah Johnson, , was killed by an explosive device that a robot delivered.
Two executives at robotic companies told CNN this is the first time a police robot has been involved in a civilian's death.
"We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was," Dallas police chief David Brown said at a news conference Friday morning. "Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger."
It's unclear exactly what type of robot was used in the suspect's death. Robots are common inside police departments, and generally used to disable explosive devices or disorient and incapacitate suspects that are barricaded. To do this, the robot generally carries a flashbang, a device that emits a bright light and loud sound. Sometimes these robots are used to place an explosive near a bomb in order to disarm it via explosion.
Northrop Grumman Remotec, which calls itself the largest providers of robots to first responders, declined to comment and referred all questions to the Dallas police department.
The robot was likely expensive, with a price tag of around $100,000, according to Endeavor Robotics chief executive Sean Bielat.
Endeavor Robotics sells its robots to agencies in the greater Dallas area, but wasn't sure if its robot was used in Thursday's incident.
These types of ground robots do not operate autonomously, but are under the control of a human operator. Similar models are used overseas to disable explosive devices in places such as Iraq. Using one to kill a suspect in the U.S. is unheard of.
"I think this is an anomaly," said Brian Hart, the president of Black-I Robotics, which makes ground robots for the government. He doesn't foresee a new trend of police using robots to kill suspects.
It's unclear if the Dallas robot was present at the time of the explosion, or left the explosive device and retreated to safety so it wouldn't be harmed as well.
Bielat's ground robots, which are designed for law enforcement, aren't designed to be used for lethal purposes. But that doesn't stop them from being used that way.
"If the first responders who were there thought this was the most appropriate way to use it, it must have been the most extreme situation," Bielat said. "It's tragic that this situation ended this way, but it was in respond to an even greater tragedy."
Bielat said using robots in police encounters can actually improve safety and reduce deaths.
"You can't shoot second if you're a person and you're dealing with somebody's who is armed," Bielat said. "But if you're a robot you absolutely can."
At first, peace.
Anger, not violence. Marching, not name-calling.
The protesters marched down Main Street. They turned south on Field. And the Dallas police proudly chronicled it all on Twitter — the “enough is enough” chants, the “Black Lives Matter” signs.
The evening was so harmonious that protesters posed for photos with officers, a moment of cooler heads prevailing on a sweltering Texas night after the consecutive fatal shootings of black men by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota.
And then, mayhem.
“Shots fired, officer down,” an officer says into his radio about 9 p.m., his voice urgent. A few minutes later, another officer is panicked: “We’ve got a guy with a long rifle. We don’t know where the hell he’s at.”
What unfolded over the next several hours — 12 officers shot, a chaotic hunt for a gunman, a battle that echoed off office buildings and, finally, mercifully, a bomb explosion — turned the streets of downtown Dallas into an urban combat zone.
It was the most vicious, direct attack on U.S. law enforcement in decades.. Seven more were wounded. And the nation was horrified.
This account of the ambush in Dallas is based on police communications, witness accounts and a review of cellphone videos taken by those brave, or brazen, enough to capture the horror. The images almost immediately began circulating on social media.
Officers lay in the streets, some mortally wounded. Protesters dropped for cover. Police unholstered their guns.
At first, as they dove behind cars, officers struggled to find where the bullets were coming from. Was there more than one shooter? The sharp rifle fire bouncing off tall buildings could have sounded like multiple shooters. Initial reports said officers were being ambushed by no less than three shooters.
But it was a one-man campaign, waged by ex-Army carpenter Micah Johnson — first in a street assault and then from multiple floors above his targets below. Dallas Mayor Michael S. Rawlings said Johnson “was a mobile shooter that had written manifestos on how to shoot and move, shoot and move, and he did that.”
Robert Rodriguez, 30, was driving through the city with his 14-year-old son. He saw the protest. And then — bang, bang, bang, bang. Then a pause. And then another barrage of gunfire.
“Like a little war,” he said.
Rodriguez circled the block and then spotted the gunman shooting a rifle at police from his hip. Officers crouched against a building, returning fire. Another officer raced over in his patrol car and emerged shooting. Johnson continued to move and fire, unwounded and unfazed.
The gun battle soon coalesced around one building: El Centro College. On video, Johnson is seen using the college’s pillared entrance as a firing point to target police trying to advance on him. Johnson’s vehicle, a black SUV registered to his mother, appears to be parked nearby, its hazard lights flashing.
Another video, shot from the nearby Bank of America building, shows Johnson taking cover behind a pillar a few feet from his vehicle.
He pulls his weapon — likely a Soviet-style rifle judging by its profile — to his cheek and fires multiple rounds before calmly and deliberately moving to another column, his rifle at the ready. Given his Army duties, it is unlikely Johnson’s apparent proficiency with his weapon came solely from his time in the service. At his home, police later found a diary with entries on combat tactics.
And then, in some of most gruesome footage from the evening, Johnson advances through a hail of gunfire, cuts a wide arc around a police officer crouching behind one of the entrance’s pillars, and fires point blank into the officer’s back, shooting repeatedly as the officer collapses.
Johnson eventually enters the college, moving through a series of connected buildings before barricading himself on the second floor, where he continues shooting through an open window.
“He’s in that damn building there,” an officer shouted into his radio. “I hear shots from that building.”
A few blocks away, in November 1963, another killer shot from a window: Lee Harvey Oswald.
Officers raced up to the 14th floor of a nearby building, hoping to get a look at Johnson. They reported seeing him through an open window, his rifle hanging out. SWAT officers moved in.
“We’re taking fire and returning fire,” an officer radioed.
Negotiations began. Johnson told the authorities that he was upset about the recent police shootings. He wanted to kill white people — police officers, preferably. He bragged about leaving bombs in nearby buildings, although none were found. He kept shooting.
was managing the operation, getting reports from officers trying to talk to the gunman.
He was still shooting, swearing at officers and seemingly uninterested in a peaceful surrender.
In the Dallas Police Department’s operations room, Brown “asked for options to take him out,” according to an account provided by the mayor.
Police hatched a novel plan.
They brought in a robot normally used for entering an area to detonate or remove explosives. Only this time, the robot had a different mission. Police attached a bomb and sent the robot to kill the man who had taken the lives of five of their own.
There was a loud boom and then, finally, quiet.
“No one was heartbroken that he wouldn’t come out,” Rawlings said later.
On Friday, back at the scene of the carnage, Ossie Boddie, 34, recalled how the protest began so peacefully.
“It was all love, man. We were here for a peaceful march,” Boddie said. “There was no ‘F--- the police!’ Even the police were smiling. There were women and children. It wasn’t an aggressive crowd.”
Bouquets of flowers sat at the base of three flagpoles where the shooting began.
A red T-shirt tied around one of the poles read “Police Lives Matter.”
Jamie Thompson, Brady Dennis, Susan Svrluga and Tim Madigan in Dallas and Mark Berman in Washington contributed to this report.