DALLAS _ An investigation into the ambush-style slayings of five Dallas police officers coalesced around one man Friday: Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, an Army veteran and gun owner with a smoldering hatred of white people.
Armed with a semiautomatic assault-style rifle and wearing body armor, Johnson exchanged gunfire with police for hours Thursday night but eventually was trapped in a downtown parking garage, where police killed him early Friday using a robot-deployed bomb.
In video footage of the rampage, the gunman lumbered toward an officer hiding behind a concrete pillar outside El Centro College in downtown Dallas. In the next instant, muzzle flashes punctuated the footage, and the officer slumped to the pavement.
At other times Johnson, perched inside the community college, exchanged gunfire with police. At least 12 officers shot back during the attack, police said.
Mayor Mike Rawlings said Friday that Johnson was believed to be the lone gunman.
When the gun battle was over, four Dallas police officers and a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer were dead and seven other officers and two civilians wounded. Some of the officers have been treated and released.
The sniper assault followed a peaceful demonstration against recent killings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. Johnson, who may have had accomplices, suggested that the attack was racially motivated by revenge.
The officers were assaulted "ambush-style," Dallas Police Chief David Brown said, with some of them shot in the back.
"We have to be right 100 percent of the time in the way we police this city," Brown said. "Suspects like this have to be right once. They don't have to work very hard to snipe at our officers from elevated positions, to ambush them from secure positions."
The Army confirmed that Johnson, of Mesquite, Texas, had been a soldier and had served a tour in Afghanistan. He received several awards for his service, which ended in 2015.
Johnson had no criminal record and no links to or inspiration from any international terrorist organization, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said.
"Information provided through the course of the investigation indicates that the suspect was an Army veteran, and others have identified him as a loner," police said in a prepared statement.
Dallas and Mesquite officers on Friday cordoned off a house in Mesquite whose Helen Lane address is listed on Johnson's driver's license.
Detectives and crime-scene technicians removed bags from the home before leaving just before 11:30 a.m. Among their findings: bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics.
County Judge Clay Jenkins said Johnson had written in his journal about the "shoot and move" tactic employed by Navy SEALs. After interviewing the officers, investigators determined that the shooter could have been firing from multiple places, making it seem initially that there was more than one assailant.
Caitlyn Lennon, 27, a friend and former co-worker of Johnson's, described him as a gun owner with military training who "was always very affected by the police stuff and had very strong feelings about being black."
Lennon said she had worked with Johnson at a sandwich shop in Richardson from 2011 to 2013.
"I can only imagine how pissed off he would be in the past year watching all of the shootings," she said, saying she had lost touch with him in recent years.
A police source told KXAS-TV that Johnson was laughing and singing during the standoff inside the parking garage. He didn't appear nervous and told police he had been working out in preparation for Thursday's assault.
Johnson's sister spent Friday mourning the loss of her brother and questioning why he had gone to the downtown demonstration.
"I keep saying it's not true. ... My eyes hurt from crying," Nicole Johnson wrote in a post on Facebook that she later deleted.
Minutes later, she posted again.
"The news will say what they think, but those that knew him know this wasn't like him," she wrote. "This is the biggest loss we've had."
Brown urged Dallas to get behind its Police Department in the days to come.
"We don't feel much support most days," he said. "Let's not make today most days."
The shooting was the deadliest day for the country's law officers since Sept. 11, 2001, when 72 died, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
The names of the Dallas police officers have not been officially released, but family members and others identified them as Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens, 48; Officer Michael Krol, 40; Sgt. Michael J. Smith, 55; and Officer Patrick Zamarripa.
DART identified its fallen officer as 43-year-old Brent Thompson, who had joined the department in 2009. Thompson is the first officer to be killed in the line of duty since DART formed a police force in 1989, spokesman Morgan Lyons said.
"Our hearts are broken," Lyons said in a prepared statement.
Three other DART officers were wounded, but they are expected to recover, Lyons said.
Two civilians also were wounded. One underwent surgery early Friday for a wound in the right calf.
Former Assistant Chief Michael Genovesi, who retired last year, said the shooting was "easily the worst thing" he had seen since he joined the Dallas Police Department 34 years ago.
He said the closest thing he remembered was when seven Dallas officers _ including Chief Brown's former partner _ were killed in a 12-month period in 1988 and 1989.
State Sen. Royce West, who was at the protest but left before the shooting started, said he was still processing the night's events.
"Just when you think you've seen it all, you recognize you haven't," said West, a Democrat. "I never thought I would live to see such carnage in the case of law enforcement, especially here in Dallas."
He said he hoped to work with Gov. Greg Abbott to see what the state could do to prevent such attacks.
But Genovesi, who oversaw patrol and coordinated security for major events, said such shootings are "almost impossible" to prevent.
"He certainly wasn't intimidated or in any way deterred by the police presence," Genovesi said of Johnson. "That's what he was seeking. That's really hard to defend against in a democracy."
At a 12:30 a.m. news conference, Brown said officers had exchanged gunfire for 45 minutes with a man in the El Centro College garage.
"He has told our negotiators that the end is coming and he's going to hurt and kill more of us _ meaning law enforcement _ and that there are bombs all over the place in this garage and in downtown," Brown said.
Though Brown had said late Thursday that two snipers had gunned down the officers, he talked about only one man at Friday morning's news conference at City Hall.
"We are working very diligently on processing the crime scene to find evidence to bring any other suspects to justice," the chief said.
During the overnight standoff, the gunman told a police negotiator that he acted alone and wanted to kill white people, especially police officers, Brown said.
"The suspect stated he was not affiliated with any groups," Brown said. "He stated he did this alone."
Police had found no bombs as of Friday morning.
However, Brown said then that he didn't believe the threat was over and that others might still be at large.
"We're not satisfied until we've exhausted every lead," Brown said. "We're going to keep these suspects guessing."
About 1:20 a.m., an explosion went off at El Centro. Police said they had placed a robot near the shooter and detonated a bomb it was holding, killing him.
Shortly before 3 a.m., police reported that the gunman in the garage was dead.
Dallas Police Maj. Max Geron said officials were conducting "extensive sweeps" of downtown for explosives. About 5 a.m., he said primary and secondary sweeps turned up none.
The mayor called for unity.
"We as a city, we as a country must come together, lock arms and heal the wounds that we all feel from time to time," Rawlings said. "Words matter, leadership matters at this time. I'm proud of our chief."
Rawlings asked everyone to focus on the officers and their families.
"To say that our police officers put their lives on the line every day is no hyperbole, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "It's a reality."
As the protest ended, bystanders reported hearing multiple shots fired shortly before 9 p.m. in the area of Market and Main streets, near El Centro.
People were asked to leave the immediate downtown area. Some walked, others ran. Some sheltered in place for several hours in downtown buildings.
Video and witness accounts portrayed chaotic scenes: "Everyone just started running," said Devante Odom, 21. "We lost touch with two of our friends just trying to get out of there."
At the corner of Commerce and Houston, Renee Sifflet waited for the situation to die down so she could retrieve her three teenage kids, who were in hiding.
"I brought them here for a positive experience, something they could say they were part of when they're older," said Sifflet, of Dallas. "Then it turned negative."
Stacey Brown, 30, and Bianca Avery, 34, were standing behind Dealey Plaza when they heard the shots.
"This was peaceful," Brown said. "We were headed back to our cars to go home. But we turned that corner (at Main Street) and all hell broke loose."
"I heard a shot and all of a sudden people are running ... children everywhere, everything," Avery said.
Sharay Santora and her teenage son and daughter were walking in the rally when they heard the shots.
"We were there to witness all the love that was happening around us when the chaos happened," Santora said. "Everyone was helping each other. It wasn't about black or white; everyone was picking each other up and moving them away. Not only were people doing that, but also the police were there to help."
Santora said her family's opinions about police have changed over the years they've lived in Dallas.
"Dallas police officers have been loving, giving, caring and are as much a part of the community as we are," she said.
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