{"id":167393,"date":"2016-07-08T14:09:15","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T20:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=167393"},"modified":"2016-07-08T14:09:15","modified_gmt":"2016-07-08T20:09:15","slug":"dallas-police-protesters-were-united-before-sniper-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/07\/dallas-police-protesters-were-united-before-sniper-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas police, protesters were united before sniper attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>DALLAS \u2014 After a long night of chaos and uncertainty, the city is finally\u00a0quiet.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty blocks in the heart of downtown are blocked off by police barricades, an active crime scene where five officers were killed and six others were wounded by sniper fire amid an otherwise peaceful demonstration against police brutality.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_167398\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-167398\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DallasPDPic-336x250.jpg\" alt=\"Dallas police tweet\" width=\"336\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DallasPDPic-336x250.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DallasPDPic.jpg 646w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Before the attack that left five police officers dead, the Dallas Police Department tweeted this photo from Thursday&#8217;s protest of police brutality.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In the hours after what appears to be the most deadly attack on police since September 11, everyday habits are suspended. The Bank of America in the center of the blockade is closed. So is the McDonald\u2019s on the corner. Raven Bartee, who works in the area, parked her car yesterday in what is now a crime scene, and she can\u2019t get to her house keys, her car or her daughter&#8217;s\u00a0diapers.<\/p>\n<p>John Collins, a lawyer who has lived in Dallas for more than five decades, watches the officers from across Lamar Street and reaches for the obvious point of comparison.\u00a0Collins remembers the days after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, just a few blocks from where he\u2019s now standing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll all pull together now,&#8221; he said, &#8220;but it\u2019ll take a long time for us to heal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Periodically, members of the public approach police officers, offering to buy them coffee, water or anything else they might need. Naomi Baxter, a member of Mothers Against Police Brutality who attended <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1314681500\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Thursday\u2019s<\/span><\/span> protest, asks if there is anything at all she can do.\u00a0The officers say they appreciate her support, and decline the offer.<\/p>\n<p>Baxter has been a regular attendee at Dallas demonstrations for years. She joined the organization to protest police brutality after her cousin, Clinton Allen, was shot and killed by a police officer in 2013. Allen was unarmed, and the police officer, Clark Staller, was not indicted.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/07\/08\/dallas-police-protesters-were-united-sniper-attack\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>But in recent years, she said, she has seen a marked improvement in the relationship between the Dallas police force and the black community. It stands in stark comparison to the fear and distrust of police reflected in many communities, something that President Barack Obama addressed earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChief Brown has really taken it upon himself to talk with the police officers, to let them know they\u2019re here for the people, and I feel like they are,\u201d Baxter said, trying to hold back tears. \u201cWalking up on us with their hands on their holsters \u2014\u00a0no. They walk to us with their hands just like these officers,\u201d she said, waving at the officers along Jackson Street.<\/p>\n<p>Baxter was one of the first to arrive at <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1314681501\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Thursday\u2019s<\/span><\/span> demonstration, her tambourine in tow. She said the event was peaceful and calm until the very end, and remembered officers clearing traffic and reminding the demonstrators to stay hydrated in the Dallas heat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese police officers had no aggression,\u201d Baxter said. \u201cIf they did, I would have been the first person to speak up. Because that\u2019s what I\u2019m about \u2013\u00a0us speaking up for what\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were in the right this time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Brown said Friday morning that he was not ready to speculate on the shooters\u2019 motives, or draw a definitive connection between the rally and the culprits. But he added that\u00a0one of the snipers said he &#8220;wanted to kill white people&#8221; before being killed by a police department bomb.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Shetamia Taylor, who attended the Thursday demonstration with her family, was the snipers\u2019 only civilian victim. Taylor, who jumped on top of her sons to protect them, was shot in the leg and is expected to recover.<\/p>\n<p>The long-term repercussions of the Dallas shooting have yet to be determined.<\/p>\n<p>The sniper attack was the third in a series of high-profile events in an emotionally charged week, after police officers killed black men in Baton Rouge, La., and Falcon Heights, Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p>Alton Sterling, 37, was killed by Baton Rouge police while selling CDs outside a convenience store, while Philando Castile, 32, was killed after being pulled over for a traffic violation. Both incidents were recorded on film.<\/p>\n<p>The national conversation around shootings and gun control was also electrified by the recent mass shooting in Orlando \u2014\u00a0which had the highest death toll of any shooting in modern American history \u2014\u00a0and a 25-hour sit-in led by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>But until shots rang out in the streets of Dallas <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1314681504\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Thursday<\/span><\/span> night, the mood at the protest was one of sadness and support, according to several event attendees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was my first protest, and at the beginning I felt so safe,\u201d said Diya Wazirali, who attended the demonstration with her sister and cousin. \u201cIt was very peaceful \u2014\u00a0I just felt like I was part of the community, and we were all there together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the event was publicized as a protest against police brutality, the relationship between the protesters and Dallas police officers in particular was not marked by animosity, according to Sahare Wazirali.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dallas Police Department has repeatedly stood in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement \u2014\u00a0they\u2019ve been consistently supportive,\u201d Sahare Wazirali said. \u201cThey\u2019ve walked alongside marchers, and they\u2019re one of the most active police departments in terms of making sure there\u2019s accountability in police work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re grieving for their families,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the last few years, officer training has increasingly focused on de-escalation tactics, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/crime\/headlines\/20151116-dallas-police-excessive-force-complaints-drop-dramatically.ece\" target=\"_blank\">which Brown has cited<\/a> as one reason the number of excessive-force complaints against Dallas officers has steadily decreased.<\/p>\n<p>Early <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1314681505\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Thursday<\/span><\/span> evening, the Dallas Police Department posted videos and photos of the demonstration on the department Twitter account. In one photo, smiling police officers <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DallasPD\/status\/751222360867418112\" target=\"_blank\">stand beside a man<\/a> holding a sign that says, \u201cNo Justice, No Peace.\u201d In another tweet, officers\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DallasPD\/status\/751225103946428418\" target=\"_blank\">filmed the the crowd<\/a> as demonstrators chanted \u201cIndict, convict, send these killer cops to jail \/ The whole damn system is guilty as hell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At sundown, just before <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1314681506\"><span class=\"aQJ\">9 p.m.<\/span><\/span>, the first shots rang out, but in the din, it wasn\u2019t immediately clear what the source of the sound was.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI heard the shots, but I don\u2019t think it registered in my mind \u2014\u00a0I thought something had happened to my dad\u2019s car,\u201d said Lexi Lewis, a Dallas highschooler who attended the event with family members. \u201cNobody in the car realized they were shots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The scene was calm, until it wasn\u2019t. Quickly, police officers started urging people to leave the scene.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt got quiet, and then they told us \u2014\u00a0run, run,\u201d Sahare Wazirali said. \u201cWe\u2019ve never run so fast in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1314681507\"><span class=\"aQJ\">midnight<\/span><\/span>, the streets were largely empty, except for police officers. Officers urged civilians who were still downtown to stay indoors.<\/p>\n<p>At press conferences held over the course of the night, the police chief and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings kept an intense calm, answering questions as a standoff between officers and one of the suspects developed in a nearby parking garage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe suspect has told our negotiators that \u2018the end is coming,\u2019 and he\u2019s going to hurt and kill more of us, meaning law enforcement, and that there are bombs all over the place, in this garage and downtown,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSo we\u2019re being very careful with our tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rawlings acknowledged that the situation was changing minute to minute, and encouraged locals to stay away from normally-bustling downtown Dallas until the confusion had settled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is still an active crime scene, and we are determining right now how big that crime scene is,\u201d Rawlings said.<\/p>\n<p>Rawlings also commended Brown and the Dallas police force for their conduct under fire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo say that our police officers put their life on the line every day is no hyperbole, ladies and gentlemen,\u201d Rawlings said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeadership matters at this time \u2013\u00a0I\u2019m proud of our chief,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday night&#8217;s brutal attack on Dallas officers followed an otherwise peaceful demonstration against police brutality, in a city where authorities have gone to great lengths to improve relations with the Black community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,3270,2109,203,143,2260],"class_list":["post-167393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-first-amendment","tag-guns","tag-law-enforcement","tag-race-and-ethnicity","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}