As hundreds marched peacefully through downtown Dallas on Thursday evening to protest two recent fatal police shootings, gunfire broke out, scattering the crowd. Snipers killed five police officers and wounded six others, as well as one civilian, according to Associated Press reports.
Raw video of the chaotic scene was captured by members of the media and the public, as people sought cover and fled the sound of gunfire.
A selection of those videos are posted below. WARNING: Some of this content is graphic.
Friends @wfaachannel8 captured moment of panic as 1st shots rang out in #Dallas. https://t.co/XSB7WIgUZ1
— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) July 8, 2016
Video from a protestor as the shooting began. Jesus. Disturbing content. #Dallas #DallasPoliceShooting pic.twitter.com/yhPTI9KC2g
— Andy Cole (@AndyCole84) July 8, 2016
DALLAS BE CAREFUL. Reports of a sniper and 2 officers down 30 mins ago at Dallas protest pic.twitter.com/Zk3jvPUfMk
— Chocolate Metaphor (@_MikePearson) July 8, 2016
Dramatic video from inside El Centro College in downtown #Dallas as shots are fired. https://t.co/ye7ut58UEnhttps://t.co/lk5eA8p6QU
— ABC News (@ABC) July 8, 2016
Multiple gunshots audible in video shot by #Dallas witness who describes hectic scene. “I am so scared.”https://t.co/83AKzpOtix
— ABC News (@ABC) July 8, 2016
Officers in Dallas pay their respects as the bodies of the officers killed tonight are transported pic.twitter.com/i5EPxWk5Rl
— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) July 8, 2016
That 2nd video was crazy, Michael Bautista is brave and foolish to stay around to catch it but man…
This video from the daily mail shows one of the assassins exchanging fire and ultimately killing one of the officers. Disturbing and graphic, be warned:
Curious what others think but that video of the police officer being killed looks to this layperson like a gunman with real combat training (or a lot of paintball experience and no fear). I would think that if the average person was getting shot at by someone behind a column their first instinct would be to take cover. This guy charges the officer’s position, takes a shot to the left of the column then heads to the right and attacks the officer from behind. That looked like a planned series of moves, drawing the officer one way then attacking from the other. It seemed as practiced as a boxer throwing a combination. These guys were no angry amateurs.
That was my conclusion too. This wasn’t random, as evidenced by their choosing elevated positions and triangulating their fire. This was an assassination by professionals who took advantage of the protest to give them a ‘kill zone’ to work with.
Ex-military? Your guess is as good as mine.
That would make sense to me. We were doing urban combat in Iraq for a long, long time.
I watched a documentary on gangs getting their members into the military, having them train in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then come back. The movements of this guy very closely match some of the video of suspects closing distance for kills. I suppose it’s possible to get that tactical training elsewhere, but it sure looked like military maneuvering to me.