Five Officers Killed and Seven Wounded in Dallas Shooting

In a coordinated ambush at a protest in Dallas late Thursday night, a sniper shot and killed five police officers while wounding up to seven. Police eventually killed the sniper and arrested three other individuals who may have been linked to the attack. Preliminary reports indicate that these individuals carried out the attack in response for the police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana.

A suspect who was being questioned by police officers said that the shooter was “upset about Black Lives Matter” along with the “recent police shootings” that has recently caused great outrage across the country. The suspect in question also mentioned that the shooter wanted to “kill white people, especially white officers.”

Police killed the deceased suspect by using a robotic device that was attached with an explosive. It is presumed that after the sniper was killed the other individuals involved in the attack surrendered to police officers.

When detailing the attack, the Dallas police chief said that the individuals employed strategies and techniques rather than a rampage-like shooting. He said that the shooters worked in conjunction with each other while firing from triangulated positions; he also mentioned that some of the individuals set up positions at higher elevations to be in a better position to hit their intended targets.

President Barack Obama spoke about both the killing of black men by police officers and the violence in Dallas, mentioning that in both cases the senseless violence must stop. He said that the violence in Dallas was unjustified and illegitimate, alluding to the fact that such actions only hurt the prospect of reconciliation in our communities across the country.

For the past few years, America has seen its fair share of tragedies in regards to police shootings, whether it be the shooting of police officers or police officers shooting unarmed individuals. The typical response to such violence, as seen in Baltimore, Ferguson and now Dallas, is to take to the streets with an equal amount violence. While the frustration of the protesters and rioters are certainly understood, it still never justifies the killing of innocent people who are just doing their job trying to protect their community nor does it justify the destruction of stores or property that actually benefit the areas in which they are located in.

Proclaiming that you stand against violence while committing acts of violence yourself is a paradigm of contradiction. If these violent attacks keep happening, in response to police shootings of minorities, it is hard to imagine that groups like Black Lives Matter will ever gain legitimacy or broad support across the country. While many would agree that the shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota were unlawful, many, if not all, would also agree that senseless attacks on police officers are equally as abhorrent.