At least two snipers opened fire on police officers during protests in Dallas on Thursday night, killing five officers and injuring six others, police said.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters the snipers fired “ambush style” upon the officers. Police later said in a statement that a suspect who was in a shootout with Dallas SWAT officers is in custody and a person of interest had surrendered. They said a suspicious package was being secured by a bomb squad.
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday while hundreds of people were gathered to protest fatal police shootings this week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota.
The protesters had gathered after a Minnesota officer on Wednesday fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a car with a woman and a child in a St. Paul suburb. The aftermath of the shooting was livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video.
A day earlier, Alton Sterling was shot in Louisiana after being pinned to the pavement by two white officers. That, too, was captured on a cellphone video.