And ambush took lives of five officers and sent screaming scrambling for cover. It ended when a Dallas police bomb squad robot killed a gunman after negotiations failed.
The attacker was identified as 25-year-old Xavier Johnson of Mesquite, Texas, a military veteran who'd served in Afghanistan.
Police found bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, riffles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics in his home Friday afternoon.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings described the shooter as "a lone but mobile shooter who had written manifestos on how to shoot and move."
Rawlings stressed that other people may have been involved in planning the attack.
The deadly gunfire erupted in Dallas after videos showing two African-American men shot by police in Louisiana and Minnesota spurred protests and debate over police use of force across the country.
Five police officers were killed while seven others were wounded in the ambush. It was the deadliest single incident for U.S. law enforcement since September 11, 2001. Two civilians were hurt in the incident.
Johnson told police negotiators that he was upset about the recent police shootings, that he wanted to kill white people -- especially white officers -- and that he acted alone.
There was no option but to use the bomb squad robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was. They couldn't risk to expose officers to grave danger. Johnson was killed by detonating the bomb.
Johnson had no criminal record or known terrorist ties. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve from March 2009 to April 2015, training as carpentry and masonry specialist. Johnson was deployed for about seven months in Afghanistan, from late 2013 to mid-2014, an received an honorary discharge.
Source: CNN
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