peaceful protest in downtown dallas, those two suspects are in custody, the danger to the public is over, i'm shepard smith in new york, our coverage continues now live. patricia stark is taking you through the night, until tomorrow. good evening. >> this is a fox news alert, i'm patricia stark in new york. protests, marches and deadly violence on our nation's streets. at this hour, four dallas police officers are dead, shot by at least two snipers armed with rifles from an elevated perch, eight other officers have been injured, three are in critical condition at this time. the city's police chief says some were shot in the back. [ screaming ]

[ sirens ] >> that's what it looked like in downtown dallas, total chaos as hundreds of people run for their lives as many as 50 or 60 shots were fired by the gunman. one suspect has been taken into custody after a shootout with police. a possible person of interest is being interviewed by investigators. both are in custody. the dallas bomb squad has been called to check out a suspicious package. ironically, it all began as a peaceful march for justice in the wake of the deaths of two black men shot by police in baton rouge, louisiana, a suburb just outside st. paul, minnesota. >> several demonstrations were happening in seattle, denver, washington, st. paul and new york city. thousands, demanding justice for ka steel and sterling.

ka steel was fatally shot by a cop wednesday night, while sitting in his car near st. paul, minnesota. his girlfriend live streamed his death. two days earlier, alton sterling was gunned down as two baton rouge officers pinned him to the pavement. the justice department is now looking into that case. let's go now to casey stegall in dallas with the latest. >> reporter: let me set the scene for you here, we are not far from where all of this went down tonight. we are standing in the middle of main street high in downtown dallas. just about 2, 2 1/2 blocks up in that direction is where the group of protesters were marching and that is where the shots rang out. you see the big green building here, that has the led green lights on the side. that is the bank of america building, it is the tallest building on downtown dallas. just on the other side of the street is a parking garage.

we have talked to a lot of eyewitnesss tonight who say it sounds as if the gunshots were coming from that parking garage. and then a little bit later, the dallas police chief came out and said that there were two snipers in elevated positions who fired upon those officers. that information jibed with what dallas police were saying. a scene of pandemonium when gunshots rang out. if we have the video, a number of videos have been posted to social media tonight. time and time again, the acts of violence have been live streamed now and uploaded to social media. some of the gunshots can be heard so distinctly. some of the eyewitnesss say up to 50 gunshots rang out over a series of minutes. they said that it started with a

few rapid shots, and then there was silence. the crowd started running, and then there were more shots, we talked to an eyewitness tonight who said he physically saw the bullets ricocheting off of the pavement, he said that is when the chaos really ensued and people started running for their lives in all directions. remember, you are in the middle of a very bustling metropolitan area with tall buildings, skyscrapers, and so the echoing of those gunshots was deafening, and some thought it was fireworks to start. because there were so many shots, but then sadly they quickly realized that it was gunfire when one person that we talked to saw an officer physically go down. if there is any bit of good news we can bring you at this hour, this has been a very developing situation all night, is that it

appears the threat to the public is over at this point. according to some local officials. the two suspects all through the night, we have not heard the notion of any additional suspects, three or four. all along the original reporting has been two suspects. one in custody, the other a person of interest in custody. the threat to the public appears to be over as they work in the vicinity of downtown dallas, trying to look at that suspicious package that was in the area. dallas police bomb squad is on the scene. and we still haven't been able to get specifics in in terms of where that is in relation to us. but again, two and a half blocks up the road, 8:45 dallas time, 9:45 eastern as the protests had been peaceful all night, was coming to an end, and people were literally minutes away from

returning back to where it all started. and then the crowd was going to disburse and go home. gunshots rang out. and officers dead tonight. >> what does the atmosphere around you seem like now that the two suspects are in custody. >> the sense of urgency is gone. when we first got here, it was extremely tense. we really had a difficult time getting here and getting our camera to this position, we kept going up to different police checkpoints and asking if we could get through. the police were saying, this is an active shooter situation, you are not getting past these barriers, you could physically see the police, they're posturing, the way they were walking, behaving, they were on high alert, when we first

arrived here, i can tell you now, within the last 30, 40 minutes it's quieted down a bunch. still a lot of police activity, the tape is still up, lots of police cars in the streets, lots of roads still closed tonight. i can tell you from the stands and the behavior of the officers and people around me, it's not nearly as tense as it was a short time ago. >> there were several reports of a bomb or a suspicious package. have you heard any more details or updates on that? dallas police bomb squad are wo working the device. it was found in the vicinity of where one of those you is spishts was taken into custody tonight after a shootout of some sort with police. that is according to the dallas

police officer, there was a shootout or an altercation of some sort before that second suspect was taken into custody. we don't know if it's a backpack, a dufflebag, a box, a shopping bag. it's not known right now, it was noticed, the bomb squad is on it, we haven't heard any type of information about any controlled detonations going off. clearly there is a very heightened sense of alert. there has been tonight here, they're not taking any chances, they're taking all precautions and we'll see what happens with that, we haven't heard any updates lately, as determined by that suspicious package. >> first one person was taken into custody, then a person of interest.

do we know if in fact now he is considered the second suspect that is now in custody? >> well, they haven't said that he is a suspect, it's interesting, because police use different wording in that press release that gave us that nugget of information that they sent out on social media, they said that the person of interest in the photo that had been released, one of the public information officers for the city of dallas tweeted out and said, all right, dallas, this is the suspect we're looking for -- or person of interest that we're looking for. that's all they're calling him at this point, then they did use the term suspect as it pertains to the second person who was taken into custody, after that gun battle with police. so again, at this point a suspect and a person of interest in custody. but the feel here and the sense

from officials on the ground is that the threat to the public is over. so that would lead us to believe that police may be confident they have their two guys. >> yeah. >> and casey, in this day of social media, people are able to become citizen journalists, we've seen quite a few photos from twitter, where people caught these moments live and were able to get some insight through those as well. >> it's interesting, it really gives us a bird's eye view of what's going on. we live in this day and age where all of us are walking around with a high definition camera in our pockets, and a little mini-computer in our hands that allows us to upload videos and broadcast things in realtime, and, you know, it was really astonishing to wake up

this morning and hear about the news out of minnesota and then to watch that girlfriend in that police involved shooting, live streaming the aftermath of that shooting as her boyfriend is in the seat next to her bleeding out in a blood stained white t-shirt, and she is calm and talking to her camera and it's being sent out to the worldwide web as the officer still had his gun drawn in the vehicle through the window, after the shots were fired in minnesota it really is astonishing to think we're in this day and age where everyone can snap pictures and videos, and they get circulated in incidents like this, it gives us a very good perspective of what happened. some of the video we've been showing tonight that people have

uploaded is incredible. the gunshots, it sounds like automatic gunfire. and some of the people, the eyewitnesss we've talked to say that that is absolutely what it was. one interview, we did earlier, a man had a good knowledge of guns, he knew right away, just by the sound of it. a lot of people who know guns and weapons and firearms and such. they can tell what different types of guns are by the sound. it really is a situation where these gunshots were in rapid success at times. and one eyewitness described bullets ricocheting off the pavement in the streets, so that gives you a sense of how frightening that must have been for the dozens and dozens and dozens that were gathered in these streets for this peaceful process tonight.

and then as i said, literally as they are about to finish, and minutes away from walking to where it all began, and getting in their cars and going home tonight, this is how it ended. and it's just really unthinkable that here we are tonight talking about this tragedy, and police officer s appears to have been attacked tonight. >> such a sad situation. and we're going to be learning more as the night goes on. we'll be checking back with you throughout the morning, watching some of that twitter video, was just really chilling, people, it started out as a peaceful protest, everything was fine until this broke out, and this twitter video here, you can see people were watching out their window and watching what was

going on. before we heard it was 50 or 60 shots, you could just imagine, i could hear it, and you could tell it was rapid fire, soundsing like an automatic weapon or automatic rifle. such a horrible night in dallas tonight. that started out again as such a peaceful protest, two snipers shooting 11 officers. we now have kelly wright standing by in d.c. kelly, how are you on this really terrible evening tonight? >> all of us are watching the developments as they unfold. there's so much reaction pouring in right now we want to go to rod willard who works out of our d.c. bureau. he knows a lot about what's going on. and he can tell us what's happening on the ground in

dallas and how the police officers will move on. rod, are you there? >> yes, i am, kelly. >> this is a tragic night officers being attacked. snipers taking aim the officers, a peaceful protest against the two shootings against police officers, against black men who were held down, pinned down and, of course, because of social media a lot of anger has been swelling. you go back to ferguson, the momentum moving forward, there's so much anger out there, do you think anger may have contributed to this, and -- >> absolutely. >> dallas police officers just helping the public conduct what we are allowed to do according to our constitutional rights and that is to protest peacefully. something went horribly wrong. >> you're absolutely right.

the dallas police officers were out there, they had been out there all evening, protecting the protesters, that's the reason that they were there, they were on assignment, the protests from what all accounts are saying, the protests were peaceful, what we had happen tonight, though, this is so important, what happened tonight, you had a group of individuals, probably the two individuals that's been arrested at this point, they specifically targeted these police officers on that police department. now, this type of attack had to have been a planned attack. why do i say that? you look at the type of weapons they had, you look at the kind of ammunition they had, and you look at where the attack took place and the time it took place, right at the end of the rally. these individuals came prepared, and they came to attack and to terrorize the city of dallas, and the dallas police department. >> you think about the fact that some of these officers are actually shot in the back. and we know that 11 have been

wounds, tragically, others have died, the number standing at four, and people are being operated on as we speak, their families are now having to face the fact that their husbands went out on duty to again as i've said, protect a peaceful protest, and rightly so, people were angry and they wanted to vent that protest. we heard one young man talking to us earlier, when sheppaard smith was on the area. he was talking to one of our reporters about how he went out to protest peacefully. and he was there not only against what took place just this past week, he also went out there in support of the police officers. >> that's right. >> so how will dallas move forward? more importantly, how will the nation move forward now as we try to develop a better bond of

understanding between police officers and the african-american community and bringing people together, including black lives matter, and all of these particular groups that have been outraged by police shootings against black men, now that same outrage needs to be lifted up against these police officers that were attacked without any provocat n provocation. >> absolutely. these attackers, these terrorists, these thugs. they have taken this entire argument, this entire demonstration that was happening today to a completely different level here's the thing too, i don't know if this is the case. i wonder if these individual shooters were part of the original protest or did they come later? or did they have some other agenda in mind? those are the kinds of questions the fbi and the dallas police department are trying to figure out now both of these subjects

from what i understand were taken in alive. they're interviewing them very hard to try to find out if there was anyone else associated with them, and whether or not there's any other planned attacks. you talk about going-forward, you know, how do we move forward as a nation. the united states is in crisis right now. i said it in ferguson and in baltimore. these situations are going to continue to happen until we have some leadership in this country that will bring our law enforcement and communities together, specifically african-american communities. this shooting this week will not help the situation at all. >> ron, i don't want to interrupt you, you've given me the entree to bring in president obama who spoke good this last night. let's hear what the president said last night, and then i'll come right back to you to give

further dialogue and discussion about your reaction to this and what your point was. this was president obama last night. >> i just ask folks to sit back and think, what if this happened to somebody in your family? how would you feel? >> that's the president talking about the two shootings that took place against black men, who as it turns out may have been attacked -- certainly the type of attack that went across social media very viral. and angering so many people in the black community, the white community. the community of america at large. basically people saying, enough is enough. is this the way, what we've seen here tonight in dallas, police officers, protecting a peaceful carry out that kind of anger, where you willfully plan and try angulate a kill zone to take out

as many police officers as you possibly can, including one civilian, who was also apparently wounded in this unfortunate tragic attack that took place this was an attack. the tragedy is, these officers, some of them in critical condition, others dying. this was -- this should have never happened. >> you're exactly right, kelly. and to go along with what president obama said, first of all, president obama in his speech, it sounds good, it was very eloquent. it did not give the appearance to anybody on either side, you know, whether you're for the black lives matter movement or not. any assurance that anything is going to change. i think that's what part of the problem is, and i know because i hear it on the street from young african-american males all the time, i hear it every day, that the vitriole they have building up inside of them, not only because of the police. it's not just because of the police and the african-american

community situations, it's also unemployment, lack of educational opportunities. all of these things come to a head at some point. and what ends up happening is what we see tonight. i don't think this is going to be the end of it, i think we're going to continue to see bloodshed on the streets of america over this summer, this is going to be a long hot bloody summer, until we get some leadership in this country where people can be reassured that we will get through these issues, come together as a nation, and one last point that's so important. i think groups like isil, isis, take advantage when they see america divides, to them, it's time to strike. we need to really be careful with this. >> not only that, to your point about isis and looking at what's

unfolding in america. going back to ferguson, they reached out to many people in the ferguson community saying, join us, we understand your plight, your anger. and that was a direct appeal to people there. they will likely continue to try to do that, to ramp up their recruitment abilities here in the united states of america. however, getting back to president obama, he spoke a little longer, i want to go back to another point that he made about the shootings that took place this week, let's listen. >> i want to give people a few statistics, to try to put in context why emotions are so raw around these issues. according to various studies, not just one, but a wide range of studies that have been carried out over a number of years, african-americans are 30% more likely than whites to be pulled over.

after being pulled over, african-americans and hispanics are three times more likely to be search ed. last year, african-americans were shot by police at more than twice the rate of whites. african-americans are arrested at twice the rate of whites, african-american dephen dents are 75% more likely to be charged with carrying offenses. they receive sentences that are 10% longer than comparable whites arrested for the same crime so if you add it all up, the african-american and hispanic population, who make up only 30% of the again population make up half of the incarcerated population. now these are facts. and when incidents like this occur.

there's a big chunk of our fellow citizenry that feels as if because of the color of their skin, they are not being treated the same and that hurts. and that should trouble all of us this is not just a black issue. it's not just an hispanic issue, this is an american issue, that we should all care about. all fair minded people should be concerned. >> so many people are concerned, they can obviously agree with the president the point of being concerned about the state of race relations in america, the relationships between the community and police. particularly the african-american communities. i want to read a tweet quickly that i just received it says, it

did happen to someone in my blue family tonight. should we go burn down buildings and assault innocent people? that is some of the sentiment being expressed, rod, and one can understand that. what do you say of the president's statement there, and what do you say of this tweet that i just received where someone is concerned about how innocent people might be impacted by all of this? >> right, and we're seeing that tonight with these innocent police officers. look, these four police officers that gave their life tonight, they had nothing to do with the incident that happened in minnesota, they had nothing to do with the other incident that took place in baton rouge. they were there, we don't even know what they thought in terms of the police shootings, they could have agreed with the community. these thugs again, thought they would take advantage of the opportunity and start shooting police officers. unfortunately, like i said that

sentiment is becoming more and more prevalent across the country. you talk about president obama's statement. i am not moved by anything the president said about this. think about it, all the statistics that he rattled off, did he really share anything with anybody that we didn't already know? we already knew all of those things he said, he said it hurts and it's painful. okay, you're the president, you've been the president for eight years, my point is again, i go back to saying, we need stronger leadership in this country to bring people together. that's what we need, whether it's law enforcement, the community, bring all of these people together, let aus be one nation once again as americans. that's what's needed. one other quick thing, law enforcement itself we need to start rooting out officers that have their own agendas as to why

they are in the profession of law enforcement. a lot of police officers, 99.9% of them do a tremendous job every day. i feel there's individuals that have tried and succeeded. and hijacking police departments, getting jobs on these police departments with their own agendas, and we in law enforcement, the good guys, if you will, we need to identify them, root them out and get them out of our profession. >> i watched a moving video from an officer, a female african-american officer in cleveland who watched the two shootings on video, she was extremely disturbed. she is the mother of four children, and she wanted to explain how proud she is to wear the blue, to be an officer that she grew up in the hood. she grew up in the innercity

like so many of us. she aspired to do something great. and she became a police officer. she did that with the purpose of saying, if i can help somebody, then my living is not in vein. she's talking about not just police violence against african-americans, but black on black crime, and how she was trying to deal with that, she also said something that i think really struck me, and will probably strike you, because you already eluded to leadership. it's time for african-american men to stand up and be the leaders in their community. we have many of them, and what we don't do, we don't report about enough of them being proactive in their communities. i know for instance in dallas, texas, there are men mentoring young boys and girls. trying to make sure kids get away from the thug life and the gang life and become productive

citizens. when you move forward, there's got to be accountability and responsibility on all sides. not just from police officers, rod. i don't mean to be waxing editorial or poetic opinion, but this is real. you and i grew up in the innercity of america, we know what the problems are out there, we also know that there are a lot of good men, a lot of good women. not only from the clergy, but business leaders. there are politicians, there are people who care. there are people who go out and they're janitors and they still come back home to try to help their children and be mentors to other people's children, and then there's single parent families that are still trying to do the same thing, help their children. when you see something like this happen in dallas. it not only underscores the problems that we have. but it also causes the concern that you have, about will we see violence like this going on

throughout america throughout this summer, if leaders don't step up and unite and do the right thing, and mentoring and helping, and breaking through this terrible impasse that we have on racial lines. >> absolutely, and you're 100% correct when you talk about self-accountability and taking responsibility. i'll be the first to tell you, the situation that's going on in some of these cities, such as in chicago, where they have just an unreasonable, unheard of number of shootings every weekend. who's going to take responsibility for that? but i am -- i'm not going to say that the police shootings are good or bad or anything like that, yes, they do need to be investigated and yes, rogue cops need to be identified and gotten rid of. i think we can do that, there's a number of police chiefs across this country that are committed to doing that, you know why? these rogue cops make it bad for all of the # 9% good cops. we're trying diligently, i can

tell you that firsthand, i talk to cops every day, trying diligently to get rid of these rogue cops. at the same time, the african-american community must take responsibility for the behavior of whether its young african-american males, females or whatever, and we cannot use the shootings the police officers against african-americans to justify the behaviors they're doing against each other. you are 100% 1309 on, when you talk about self-responsibility and for both sides. both sides, law enforcement, government and the community taking responsibility for their actions. >> i know you're not talking about both sides of your mouth, you're out there mentoring a lot of these young men and women. i'm out there trying to do the same thing, and all of us who care about, not only our community, but the communities at large. about america, we're all trying to do the right thing. i would do it for any child. i want to get back to what's

happening in dallas. for those of you just checking in, i'm talking to rod willard, he's also a fox news contributor. we're talking about the unfortunate situation that took place in dallas. we want to go to kdfw right now. we're going to dip into this news conference taking place right now. >> that's the purpose of this press conference. i'll make a couple comments after chief brown. and then we'll take a couple questions. you probably won't hear from us in person until the morning again. we'll be sending information out as we get it online. i want to say that i heard from both the white house and the governor's office extending their help, and we're sure going to be able to use some help from the governor's office.

we have so million police officers out. we want to make sure they're covered in the right way. >> currently we are in negotiations with a suspect involved in these shootings at the garage of el centro in downtown dallas. the suspect we're negotiating with, has been exchanging gunfire with us, and not being cooperative in the negotiatios s before i came here, i asked for plans to end this stand-off, and as soon as i'm done here, i'll be presented with those plans. in addition to this second floor garage as we recapped the previous press release, we have in custody a female who was in the same area of the el centro

garage and we followed a mercedes with two suspects who had camouflaged bags, who officers ended up stoppi inping traffic in the oak cliff area near polk and 67th. and they are in custody and being interview ed the suspect that we are negotiating with, that has exchanged gunfire with us over the last 45 minutes, 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 downtown. we're being very careful in our tactics, so that we don't injure or put any of our officers in harm's way including the

citizens of dallas, as we negotiate further we still don't have a complete comfort level that we have all the suspects. we will continue a very, very rigorous investigation. and search of downtown. we'll likely be working throughout the early morning hours of friday until we are satisfied that all suspects have been capture d and have an opportunity to be interviewed, so we can fully understand what's motivated this attack on our officers. as i mentioned in the press release before we came out. one of our officers that was in surgery we had hopes would survive, pass ed, bringing the total count of officers that

passed away to four. three dallas police officers and one dart officer. we're continuing to ask for the public's prayers and support and encouragement, i can tell you, i've never been more proud of a police officer and being a part of this great noble profession, seeing the courage, the professional i professionalism and just the grit to stay on scene in an area looking for suspects, knowing that we are vulnerable. we don't know where they are, and our downtown is very large, with a lot of high buildings. and some of the stories i've heard from officers talking about what happened, running toward gunfire to help the injured officers, to get them transported to the hospital, by patrol car, not having a time to wait for an ambulance, and so

many stories of great courage we continue to fight the good fight to bring this to a conclusion, and it's a tenuous situation. as soon as the mayor is done, we'll take additional questions from you, then we'll have to be leaving thanks. >> thank you. concerning what is going to happen tomorrow morning this is still an active crime scene and we are determining right now, how big that crime scene is. there are many people that work in the downtown area, we ask them to stay away from the crime scene. how are you going to know where it is? we're going to post it on dallascitynews.net, you can check with your buildings that you work in and make sure that those buildings are open. we have to support our police force to do their job to make

sure we get to the bottom and the root cause of all of this. so please make it easy for the police force and other citizens to check your traffic roots in the morning, before you come in. i want to add that it is a heart breaking morning to lose these four officers that proudly served our citizens to say that our police officers put their life on the line every day is no hyperbole, it's a reality 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 words matter, leadership matters at this time, i'm proud of our chief. >> what can you tell us about this suspect? is this someone local what brought this person to dallas? >> at this point we don't have a lot of cooperation to find those answers we will be continuing our interrogation of the people we have in custody. we're not getting the cooperation we'd like to know the answer of why, the motivation, who they are, our detectives are diligently interviewing these people and we'll share it with you as soon as we have it. >> you're talking about four people, two in the garage, one in the car and another woman who was in it the garage? do you believe they were working together at this point? >> that's our assumption.

>> working together with rifles, try angulate d in different ares of downtown dallas, where the march was going, there had to be some speculation for us that there's a reason they waited for the rally to be over. we're waiting for the suspects to break and tell us what they were doing. >> were these people on anyone's radar? you have the fbi here. >> we were monitoring social media, we had attended many of the planning meetings for the protest group, we have yet to determine whether or not there was some complicity with the planning of this. but we will be pursuing that. >> that takes me to my next question, do you know if they were a part of the rally or were posted up in that garage the whole time? >> that's yet to be determined.

>> there was a system on facebook making threats, and talking about shooting dallas police officers. did you guys take a look at that? >> there's a lot of things on social media that we monitor and follow up on, whether or not there's a connection to that post with any of these suspects we have yet to determine that, definitely we'll be pursuing any of that in connection with whether we can bring charges. >> we will be going to the hospitals right now, and it's important for us to do that. >> our sympathies, chief. >> thank you. >> there you have the news conference right now, they're going to -- police are now headed to the hospital. the mayor is going there as well. they will conduct a rigorous

investigation, however, throughout the night and perhaps into the morning dallas will remain a crime scene. many of the places will be closed, you are urged by the mayor to check out the city's website, to determine where you should be going. the chief said the negotiations with a suspect for the past 45 minutes has been going on, he's been exchanging gunfire with them, with police officers, they also have in custody a female, who was in that second floor of the el centro garage. they also followed two mercedes apparently that had two camouflaged bags. the end is coming is what the

person who's been exchanging gunfire, is what he's been telling negotiators. the end is coming, he's going to hurt more police officers. bombs are all over the place. so police will have to investigate that, to find out if there are any devices throughout the downtown area and perhaps other places as they get more leads about this. the chief also said, we are going to be conducting rigorous investigations to determine what prompted this attack on dallas police officers. throughout the night a peaceful protest had been taking place in the city of dallas something went horribly wrong when apparently snipers started opening fire on police officers targeting police officers, 11 of them shot. they were not just dallas police officers, but also dart police officers, which is the dallas

area rapid transit of that, three dallas police officers have been killed, one dart officer has been killed as well. the chief wanted to say that -- i've never been more proud of our officers they were running toward the gunfire to get to the injured, so many stories of good courage that he wanted to say, it's still a tenuous situation. the mayor of dallas again saying that it is a heart breaking morning to lose these four officers. it is no hyperbole to say, they risk their lives every day and he wanted to say, we are a country, and we need to heal the wounds, words matter, and he wanted to say that leadership matters. you heard d.c. homicide detective talk about how leadership matters. right now we want to go to our

affiliate in dallas kdfw to listen in. >> the bus driver stepped off. told people this would be the ride out ofdown town. he would take them to another location where buses would help them get on their way. this is the only bus that's coming downtown to pick up these folks. he's trying to explain that to the people who do want to leave. they have that option, that choice, moments ago, we showed you how that was happening. police officers tell us, they're just keeping an eye on things. keeping an eye on the ground. you don't know if there's a threat, just considering what's happened a few hours ago, four police officers shot and killed. the police officers here tell us, that's why they formed a line, to keep an eye on things. the 7-eleven behind me has its lights off, shut up pretty

tight. people given an option to leave if they don't have transportation. others choosing to stick around here. >> are police protecting the 7-eleven? is that what --? it looks like they're protecting the 7-eleven. are there indications people are going to try to go into the 7-eleven? we see the scene, it seems like there's more to it than we're getti getting. >> no one has gone into it so far, they may be protecting the 7-eleven, that's entirely possible, we have not seen a move from anybody in that direction to do anything like that so we couldn't predict what would happen in the future, it looks like police are standing in front of the store tensions as you can see, emotions are heated right now. but really, the police officers are telling me they just want to

keep an eye on things. they don't want a crowd in and out of the store is what it sounds like, it's not clear to me whether the store made the decision to close or police advised they would be closing. i'm peering in the windows and everything looks normal and fine. aside from a handwritten note that says store closed taped to the front door. back to you. >> have you had a chance to talk to any of these folks. are they waiting for a ride, gathering to -- lots of people are talking about what happened tonight. you see people in the back of the shot. >> flexing and. >> i don't know if you've had a chance to talk to anybody? ? >> i did talk to people, everyone has their reasons. i don't see it right now, but

moments ago, there were signs people were holding with alton's name on it. others told me, i was at the west end station, the shooting broke out. i stuck here, i don't know where else to go, the buses stopped running, the trains stopped running. and that's my situation so i think it's different for everybody here. >> it didn't look like there was quite as much law enforcement as there is now. that may just be the perspective, the camera shot. >> no, i think you're right, i think there is more law enforcement. earlier when we passed by, you saw the crowd, it looked like the store was open, we started to keep an eye on things, it looked like police were keeping an eye on things. this is off the perimeter of the shooting scene.

there's crime scene tape strung up to the side of this 7-eleven, we're on the edge of where the public has been allowed to go. there are more police officers, i think heading this way, none in tactical gear. a few are wearing helmets, mostly just in their regular uniforms, keeping an eye on things and they moved in to form this line. >> is that the dart bus that's going to take people out of the area and get them back to their cars? are you seeing people get on the buses? >> i did, i saw a lot of people get on the buses. i couldn't estimate for you i've been kind of moving around, we did see the bus stay there for about -- a little less than 10 minutes. >> it's backing up now. >> yeah, backing up, it's leaving now. okay, this is it, this is your bus.

he would explaining where the bus would go, and from there, where folks could catch a ride. it looked like some of the other public transit systems are still running, they're not running downtown right now because of the possibility of an active shooter still on the bus. you can see a sizable group remains here. back to you. >> that's the situation as it's unfolding in dallas, you can see police standing in front of a 7-eleven, as it looks to be many protesters are still standing outside. not taunting, but in some cases just standing. the police officer which strikes me are not wearing any protecting gear perhaps they believe the threat of them being wound or shot by some sort of

sniper, that threat has been taken away now. i want to bring in rod wheeler, former d.c. homicide detect iiv he knows a lot about policing all across the nation. he's also fox news contributor, i want to get to the point of chief david brown. let me begin with what the mayor said at the top of his news conference. the mayor said he heard from the white house and the governor's officer, who have offered their help, what kind of help will the white house and the state of texas through the governor's office provide for police officers operating there in dallas? >> well, because the situation is still a very fluid situation as the chief explained, the white house the department of justice, probably offered what they typically offer, that's the resources of the fbi, the department of justice, and their

forensic individuals. i mean, they can actually assist in situations like this so much to the state department. the state of texas probably offered the services of cbi, they can provide a lot of forensic experts and things like that. . the thing that's important to recognize, i think the most important thing was that this situation is still going on. the situation is not over. this is a very fluid situation kelly, they still have a suspect surrounded but he's not given up, the suspect is still making threats in terms of harming more people. so right now -- >> not just harming more people, but also stating -- telling police officers that he has bombs planted all around the place. what does that mean to you as a police officer? ? how many devices could he possibly have? is he faking it, and obviously,

because he's already taken shots at police officers, perhaps has even wounded or killed some of the police officers that have fallen tonight. you have to take this guy seriously. >> absolutely. let me tell you, they are taking him seriously. there's a reason why we have to take this guy serious, the police chief made it clear, there's at least three individuals, maybe more that were involved in this planned attack against the police officers this was a planned attack, this wasn't just a couple guys that were upset about the police shooting yesterday. this was a planned attack. look at the types of weapons i think i mentioned this earlier, now the guy is talking about he had bombs or they had bombs planted. i would not be surprised. i'm only speculating. i would not be surprised if this was a major conspiracy to attack that police department.

i'll tell you what, other police departments right now, need to be on high alert until they get more information as to who this group of individuals are this isn't just one guy, it's a group of individuals. >> let me interject a question here, what you're talking about is something that law enforcement throughout the nation has been concerned with, if you recall, there was a -- there's the terrorist group isis. i don't mean to bring them in and put them into this, we don't know. for those of you watching us right now, please do not take this as being a fact. but it is a fact and it's known that isis has wanted to take out police officers and attack police officer police officers in any given situations, even to hack into their websites to get their names, their personal identification this is a possibility, is it not? >> absolutely.

that goes exactly to what i was saying earlier, when i said, we can't lose sight of the fact that isis is very active right now, we know that. and one other thing you'll probably find surprising. two weeks ago, we had that horrific shooting at the pulse nightclub, if you'll recall, the viewers will recall this, isis issued a statement, saying to the future terrorists, the individuals that were inspired by them, to choose your targets accordingly. in other words, go after white men is what they said, in their propaganda. if that's the case, the first thing i thought when i heard that, that was two weeks ago. i said, this is a strategy that isis is using, try to divide americans up by race and ethnic groups so that they can strike us. i've seen them operate like this before, it's a new strategy they're using, so we cannot lose sight. i'm not saying or suggesting that's exactly what this is. >> neither one -- >> let's be clear to make that point.

>> we have to look at all possibilities. trust me when i tell you, that police chief, he and his team, the fbi, they're looking at that right now that's why they'd rather take that guy down. if they can get him alive, that would help us outlot. they can get information from him. and the other individuals that they already have in custody. >> the other striking thing, is that one female was found on the second floor of that garage where some of the shooting or shooting took place, at least they aimed at police officers. a female is involved. we know that two have been captured in terms of having their car stopped, camouflage gear inside of that. one is in custody, one is being negotiated at this point in time who's giving the threats.

these men and women who serve on police departments throughout the country. it is a heart breaking morning to lose these four officers, three officers from the dallas police department and one from dart. they risk their lives every day. this is key, you and i discussed this before we went to the news conference to listen to him. he said something that you echo and i agreed with you, he said, we as a country have to heal the wound wounds. words matter, and then he said, leadership matters. it brings us back to what we've been discussing here, that all of this leadership matters, words matter. i'm reminded, and i hate to bring this in. i'm reminded of a song that

marvin gaye wrote, talk to me and you can see what's going on. the bottom line is, talk to each other, and we're not seeing that happen in america right now. >> no, we're not. actually, we're seeing just the complete opposite. there's some elements that continue to try to deindividual us as a nation. >> i think -- in my opinion, i think it's a strategy, let me tell you, i follow this stuff every day. the actions, the strategy of the terrorist group, i tell you, this is the strategy being employed by some terrorist organization, most likely isis, what they're doing is trying to get the buy in of certain ethnic groups in this country. we have to stop it, we can't let it happen, i do believe, though, at the end of the day, this nation is strong, we've come through storms before as a nation, and we'll come through this one, and we'll be much stronger at the end of the day. >> i will leave it there, hope

you will stay with us, throughout the night. coming up at 2:00 right now, we're going to go to my colleague in new york, patricia stark. i'm kelly wright reporting from washington on the unfolding developments from dallas texas where 11 police officers have been shot, four of them are dead. protests, marches and deadly violence on our streets. four police officers are dead, shot by at least two snipers armed with rifles from an elevated perch. eight other officers have been wounded. here's what it looked like in downtown dallas, when the shots rang out thursday night. total chaos as hundreds of people were running for their lives. police say as many many as 50 or 60 shots were fired by the gunmen. bombs have been placed all over the