The Latest: Slain Dallas officers remembered at vigil

Jul 11, 2016 | 9:55 PM

DALLAS — The Latest on the aftermath of the shooting of police officers during a protest in Dallas (all times local):

9:45 p.m.

More than 1,000 people have gathered in downtown Dallas to attend a candlelight vigil for the five police officers killed during a protest march.

Speakers at the Monday night vigil included police officials and friends of the slain officers. Portraits of the officers were propped up in front of the speaker’s platform.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown told the crowd that police officers are like superheroes.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit Police Chief J.D. Spiller says the attacks won’t tear the city apart. Spiller, who said there must be discussions on race relations in America, also adds, “We must lead America in protecting and supporting our police officers.”

Four Dallas police officers and one DART officer were killed in Thursday’s attack.

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8:05 p.m.

The funeral for one of the police officers fatally shot during a downtown Dallas protest march will be held at an auditorium in nearby Fort Worth, where he graduated from high school.

The Fort Worth Independent School District says the funeral for Dallas police Officer Patrick Zamarripa will be held Saturday at the district’s Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center.

The funeral for Brent Thompson, an officer with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority, will be held Wednesday afternoon at Northside Baptist Church in Corsicana, Texas. Earlier in the day, there will be a memorial service for him at Potter’s House Church in Dallas.

Services for Dallas police Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens will be held Wednesday at Prestonwood Baptist Church in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

A funeral will be held Wednesday for Dallas police Sgt. Michael Smith at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Farmers Branch, where he and his family were parishioners. A civic funeral will be held for him Thursday at Watermark Church in Dallas, where he worked security.

Details of services for Dallas police officer Michael Krol weren’t immediately known.

All five officers were killed in Thursday’s attack while hundreds of people were gathered in downtown Dallas to protest recent fatal police shootings.

6:45 p.m.

The Houston mayor is asking the U.S. Justice Department to review the fatal police shooting of a man who authorities say had pointed a gun at officers.

Mayor Sylvester Turner also said Monday that since “tensions are running high,” he recommends all available video be released as soon as possible.

Turner says video from a gas station shows that just before police arrive on Saturday, 38-year-old Alva Braziel appears to fire two shots in the air and then raise his arms and turn in a circle.

He says after police arrive, he sees Braziel step toward them with his right arm extended toward them.

He says that in video not yet made public, a bystander acknowledges Braziel had a gun. A gun was taken from Braziel’s right hand by an officer.

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4:45 p.m.

The St. Paul city attorney says he is charging nearly 50 people arrested in a weekend protest on Interstate 94 over the death of Philando Castile, who was shot by a police officer.

City Attorney Samuel Clark said Monday he has decided to charge all 46 adults arrested by the State Patrol in the highway protest with third-degree riot, a gross misdemeanour.

Bail was set at $1,500. Those facing charges could make their first court appearances Tuesday.

Clark says the protesters endangered others when they walked onto the interstate and refused officers’ commands to leave Saturday evening.

Any charging decision about the one juvenile arrested will be considered by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Juvenile Division.

After the interstate arrests, police stopped protesters walking in the road on Grand Avenue early Sunday and arrested 52 people. They were cited for public nuisance and unlawful assembly and released.

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4:10 p.m.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will not attend a memorial service for the five officers who were killed by a sniper in Dallas last week.

Abbott’s office said Monday that the Republican will being undergoing skin grafts on his feet after suffering second- and third-degree burns on his feet and both legs below the knees.

His wife, Cecilia Abbott, will take his place Tuesday.

President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden are scheduled to attend Tuesday’s service, as well as former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura.

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2:55 p.m.

Some enterprising children who wanted to help a suburban St. Louis officer who was shot and wounded during a traffic stop had a lot of helpful and generous customers.

The 10 children organized a lemonade stand in West St. Louis County on Sunday to raise funds for Ballwin Police Officer Mike Flamion.

He was in critical but stable condition Monday after being shot by a man he stopped for speeding on Friday.

KMOX reports (http://cbsloc.al/29QIyMD ) that the kids hoped to raise about $20, but ended the day with $4,000.

A mother of one of the children, Kate Gieseler, said a Dierbergs store donated all the ingredients and items when store officials heard what the children were doing.

Several police and fire officials came to the stand Sunday to lend support.

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2:10 p.m.

Funerals will be held this week for three of the police officers who were fatally shot during a downtown protest march in Dallas.

Services for Brent Thompson, an officer with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority, will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Northside Baptist Church in Corsicana, Texas.

Services for Dallas Police Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens will be held 11 a.m. Wednesday at Prestonwood Baptist Church in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

On Thursday, funeral services will be held for Dallas police Sgt. Michael Smith at noon at the Watermark Church in Dallas.

Services for Dallas police officers Patrick Zamarripa and Michael Krol are pending.

All five officers were killed in Thursday’s attack while hundreds of people were gathered in downtown Dallas to protest recent fatal police shootings.

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1:45 p.m.

The medical director of a Dallas hospital’s trauma centre who is also a deputy medical director with the Dallas Police Department says no one on the department’s SWAT unit has had a chance to decompress since Thursday’s shootings.

Dr. Alex Eastman said the shootings “rocked some guys to their core that I thought were unshakable” and that it’s a time for the city of Dallas to “come together.”

Doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital who treated some of the officers who were shot held a news conference on Monday afternoon.

The shootings killed five officers and injured nine officers and two civilians.

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1:25 p.m.

A trauma surgeon at Parkland Memorial Hospital who is black says he understands the “anger and frustration and distrust of law enforcement.”

Dr. Brian H. Williams went on to say that police are not the problem, but instead the lack of discussion about “the impact of race relations.”

Williams and other doctors who treated some of the officers who were shot Thursday night in downtown Dallas held a news conference on Monday afternoon.

Five officers died and nine officers and two civilians were injured during a protest over recent fatal shootings by police.

Williams said that not being able to save some of the officers “weighs on my mind constantly.”

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12:10 p.m.

A prosecutor says he’s considering riot charges against nearly 50 people who staged a rally on Interstate 94 in St. Paul, Minnesota, to protest the police shooting death of Philando Castile.

City Attorney Samuel Clark says his office is reviewing evidence from the Saturday evening protest, including photos and video, to determine whether charges can be brought. Forty-six adults are being held on a possible gross misdemeanour charge of third-degree riot.

Clark says the protesters endangered others when they walked onto the interstate and refused officers’ commands to leave.

After the interstate arrests, police stopped protesters walking in the road on Grand Avenue early Sunday and arrested 52 people. They were cited for public nuisance and unlawful assembly then released.

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This item has been corrected to show that 46 adults and 1 juvenile were arrested in connection with the I-94 protest, per St. Paul City Attorney’s Office, not 50 people.

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12:05 p.m.

A Wisconsin legislator is introducing a “Blue Lives Matter” bill to make targeting law enforcement officers a hate crime, following the Dallas shooting that killed five officers last week.

Rep. David Steffen, a Green Bay Republican, announced his proposal Monday, adding Wisconsin to a growing list of states discussing similar bills.

Louisiana became the first state to enact such legislation in May, allowing prosecutors to seek stronger penalties when police, firefighters and emergency medical crews are intentionally targeted because of their professions. Lawmakers in at least nine other states and at the federal level have floated similar proposals.

Activists are criticizing the growing effort, saying professions don’t belong alongside the other characteristics protected under hate crime laws, such as race, religion or disability.

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11:50 a.m.

The Dallas police chief says the shooting suspect was killed by a remote-controlled robot on the second floor of a community college, not a parking garage as authorities previously described.

Chief David Brown said at a news conference Monday that the department has misspoke for days, and that 25-year-old Micah Johnson died inside El Centro College in downtown Dallas. Brown did not provide more details, including the location of negotiations that came before the bomb.

Authorities say Johnson shot and killed five officers and wounded 9 officers and two civilians during a protest Thursday in downtown Dallas.

Brown also said two El Centro students hid in the building overnight, because they were afraid to come out until the shooting stopped. Police got them out of the building Friday morning.

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This item has been corrected to show that the college’s name is El Centro College, not El Centro Community College.

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11:30 a.m.

The Dallas police chief says another police department will assist with security when President Barack Obama visits the city this week.

Obama is expected to visit Dallas on Tuesday in the wake of the fatal shooting of five police officers.

Chief David Brown said at a news conference Monday that the Arlington Police Department has offered to work with the Secret Service to provide security during the president’s visit. Brown said he doesn’t want his own officers shouldering that responsibility because of “the fatigue factor.”

Nine officers and two civilians were also injured when an Army veteran opened fire at a protest in downtown Dallas on Thursday evening.

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11:15 a.m.

The suspect in the shooting of a suburban St. Louis police officer has made his first court appearance.

Antonio Taylor was arraigned Monday on charges of assault of a police officer, armed criminal action and possessing a firearm as a felon. He’s accused of ambushing Ballwin police officer Michael Flamion during a traffic stop Friday.

St. Louis County police spokesman Benjamin Granda says Flamion remains in critical but stable condition.

Authorities say Flamion was shot from behind as he walked back to his car after stopping Taylor’s car for speeding. The shooting occurred the day after five officers were shot and killed in Dallas, but authorities have not offered any possible motive for the Missouri shooting.

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11 a.m.

A white Detroit police detective has been demoted after calling the Black Lives Matter movement “racists” and “terrorists.”

Nate Weekley posted the remarks on Facebook in response to the fatal shooting of five officers in Dallas. Detroit police Chief James Craig told reporters Monday that Weekley has been demoted to officer during an internal investigation.

Craig says Weekley’s comments could undermine efforts to maintain good relations with the public. Detroit is 80 per cent black.

Weekley is the brother of Joseph Weekley, a Detroit officer who accidentally killed a black girl during a 2010 raid. A judge dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge at trial.

Police union president Mark Diaz says Nate Weekley’s comments were the result of frustration felt by many officers.

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10:50 a.m.

The Dallas police chief defended the department’s use of a robot-delivered bomb to kill the suspect in Thursday’s shooting.

Chief David Brown said at a news conference Monday that the suspect, 25-year-old Micah Johnson, had “already killed us in a grave way, and officers were in surgery that didn’t make it.”

Brown added: “This wasn’t an ethical dilemma for me.”

Johnson shot and killed five officers and wounded 9 officers and two civilians in downtown Dallas.

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10:35 a.m.

The Dallas police chief says police are taking all threats as credible in the wake of the shooting that killed five officers last week.

Chief David Brown said at a news conference Monday that they have to do that for the sake of their families. He pointed to a threat he received from a private Facebook page to the Dallas Police Department’s page that is being investigated.

Johnson shot and killed five officers and wounded 9 officers and two civilians during a protest Thursday in downtown Dallas. He was killed by a bomb delivered by remote-controlled robot after negotiations with authorities.

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This item has been corrected to show that nine officers, not 11, were wounded in the shootings.

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10:25 a.m.

The Dallas police chief says authorities are downloading more than 170 hours of officers’ body camera footage and collecting “countless hours” of dashcam video as well.

Chief David Brown said at a news conference Monday that Brown said 11 officers fired weapons at Micah Johnson and that two used an explosive device.

Johnson shot at killed five officers and wounded 9 officers and two civilians during a protest Thursday in downtown Dallas. He was killed by a bomb delivered by remote-controlled robot after negotiations with authorities.

Brown described the robot, which he said was purchased in 2008 for $151,000, and is still functional.

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This item has been corrected to show that nine officers, not 11, were wounded in the shootings.

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9:40 a.m.

The parents of Dallas shooter Micah Johnson say they are surprised by his violent rampage and note he returned from an Army deployment to Afghanistan a changed man.

Johnson’s father, James Johnson, said in an interview posted on TheBlaze website Monday (http://bit.ly/29y8V5u ) that he “didn’t see it coming.” Through tears, Johnson says: “I hate what he did.”

Micah Johnson, a black 25-year-old from Mesquite, Texas, targeted police officers in Thursday’s attack, fatally shooting five and wounding more.

His mother, Delphine Johnson, says that as a child her son wanted to join the police, but that after serving six years in the Army Reserves, he became a “hermit.”

The family says Micah Johnson never showed signs of hatred for certain groups of people, but that he hated “injustice.”

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This item has been corrected to show that the website is known as TheBlaze not The Blaze.

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9:10 a.m.

The family of one of the five Dallas police officers fatally shot last week is thanking the public for its support and asking people to keep all police in their prayers.

Brent Thompson was a 43-year-old officer with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority. He was killed Thursday during a downtown protest march.

In a statement Monday, Thompson’s family said they feel “blessed and sustained” by the messages of support they have received.

Thompson’s family says its focus remains “honouring Brent in the days ahead and planning our next steps as a family.”

Thompson had recently married another transit officer and had six grown children from a previous marriage. He was with the transit authority for seven years.

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8:50 a.m.

Several dozen demonstrators have gathered outside the Dane County Sheriff’s Department’s headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, to protest recent police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Protesters are lining the sidewalks around the building, holding signs reading, “Does your badge still stand for justice?” and “Black lives matter more than white feelings.” Monday morning commuters honked in support.

Protester Timothy Maymon suggests police should be retrained to shoot to wound.

No uniformed police officers are apparent at the protest.

Police killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in the Twin Cities suburb of Falcon Heights last week. On Thursday, a black Army veteran opened fire on police officers in Dallas, killing five.

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8 a.m.

Detroit police have arrested four men over Facebook postings that the city’s police chief says amount to threats against officers.

The Detroit News reports (http://detne.ws/29xvuqS ) that one of the men is accused of urging people to kill white officers.

Chief James Craig said Sunday that the department’s counter-terrorism unit found that posting while monitoring social media. He says “while it’s been established that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment, we’re talking about people specifically saying on Facebook they want to kill white police officers.”

Police say two other posts about shooting officers were scrutinized. Craig says two of the men were released and two were jailed on unrelated warrants.

The arrests follow the fatal shooting of five officers in Dallas. Craig has said his officers are on alert after the shootings.

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1:01 a.m.

The Dallas police chief says the suspect in the deadly attack on officers taunted authorities during two hours of negotiations, laughing at them and at one point asking how many officers he had shot.

The chief and the county’s most senior elected official also said Sunday that Micah Johnson had larger attack plans and possessed enough explosive material to inflict far greater harm.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown says Johnson, a black Army veteran, insisted on speaking with a black negotiator. The chief says he also wrote in blood on the wall of a parking garage where police cornered and later killed him.

The shootings marked the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Five officers were fatally shot just a few blocks from where President John F. Kennedy was slain in 1963.

The Associated Press










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