today our focus is on the victims and the families. the entire city of dallas is grieving. police across america feels this loss to theirore and we are grieving with them. >> president obama addressing from foreign soil during an important nato trip. good morning. breaking news overnight. 11 police officers have been shot and five fatally after what is believed to be two snipers opened fire in downtown dallas. it started as a peaceful

demonstration after two police shootings. the sound of gunfire erupted from an elevated position firing down on officers ambush style. one witness says he saw multiple officers get shot and he described the scene to our local dallas affiliate. >> i was walking and the sniper just started shooting. like all of the cops were getting shot.

i saw cops bending over. it had to be five or six cops getting shot down. it was right after the rally. it was all of the cops. >> how many? >> i saw three. we were running. they kept shooting but it was every cop. i didn't see anybody else get shot. it was just the cops. >> one of those police officers killed has been identified as 43-year-old brent thompson, a rapid transit officer. he is the first officer killed since it formed in 1989. he joined the force in 2009. three people are in custody. a fourth suspect was in negotiations with authorities after barricading himself into a parking garage and was

exchanging gunfire with police. that suspect is now dead. david brown gave a chilling account of the. >> it has told our negotiators that the end is coming and he is 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. >> gabe is joining us now from dallas. what's the latest ton ground now from there? >> reporter: good morning. it is a devastating day. we learned that police here in dallas have finished sweeping this downtown arirea for explosives and have found nuchblt much of the area remain

on lockdown. many gunshots were heard and police say at least two snipers were elevated above the crowd and started targeting police officers. at least five officers are dead and six others are injured. six others are in custody. it was a very stunned confusion as the person was cornered inside this parking garage. it all ended about 2:25 local time. there were reports of the suspect was dead. now the investigation, the massive investigation underway after the largest and deadliest attack on u.s. law enforcement since 9/11. thank you. >> thanks for that, gabe. in just eight hours after arriving in poland for a meeting president obama made a statement on shootings back home and he

promised the people of texas the federal government will provide any help it needs and asked americans to provide profound gratitude to the police officers. >> we still don't know all of the facts. what we do know is there has been a vicious, calculated and dispickab d depickab despicable attack on law enforcement. they were keeping people safe during peaceful protests. let's go now to ron allen who is traveling with the president. >> reporter: it will be focused on the global fight against brexit and britain leading the e.u. but the president took a moment to speak out about what

happened to offer support and his condolences to the people of dallas and the police force. the president has talked about this issue on many occasions. just last night he was condemning the killings of two black suspects in louisiana and minnesota. it is a tough issue. on a number of occasions it appears the president fall tons side of the protesters instead of the police. he feels strongly the police do a difficult job and trust has to be developed between the police department. all of the issues are still there. they need to support them in every way possible as they expect to do in the days ahead. >> thanks for that. switching kbegears, bill is here with your weekend weather. talking about dallas, warm

weather last night. >> yeah, and just condolences and blows your mind and another horrible tragedy. >> yes. >> and let's talk about your upcoming weekend forecast. severe weather in the middle of the country. at this hour we have severe storms popping up. we have one area of risk. 59 million people in total and this huge area, they will not hit everybody. if they hit you they could have flash flooding and possibility of damaging winds. temperatures here, most of the west pretty seasonable. salt lake city a little warmer than usual. boise looks night. by the time we get to sunday into areas through idaho to montana. it should be enough to produce severe thunderstorms and isolated tornados possibly.

salt lake city it will cool you off. it looks more enjoyable than the heat you're dealing with. it's that time of year afternoo sboochlt the deep south temperatures will be very warm if not hot right through the weekend. looks like a very typical summer week. our friends in dallas are about 100 every day this time of year. >> and in phoenix they are not catching a break. >> yes. we'll talk about the dallas shootings targeting police. they were likely the results of two other officer-involved shootings. that is next. you're watching "early today." ♪ the sun'll come out tomorrow... ♪

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approaching 11 past the hour. we are following this in dallas. according to aur police affiliate, 11 shot and five of them killed. during their last news conference around 1:30 eastern they were negotiating with a fourth person. here is part of what the police chief said during that update. >> we are continuing to ask for the public's prayers and support and encouragement but i can just tell you, i have never been more proud of a police officer and being a part of this great noble profession, seeing the courage, 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. our downtown is very large with

a lot of high buildings. some of the stories i have heard from officers talking about what happened, running towards gunfire to help the injured officers, to get them transported to the hospital by patrol car, not having the time to wait for an ambulance and just so many stories of great courage. so we continue to fight the good fight to bring this to a conclusion. >> and this assault on the police officers happened after a peaceful protest. thousands of protesters gathered after a police involved shooting death earlier this week. >> reporter: shots fired as protests of two african american males this week turned violent in dallas. at least ten officers shot with multiple fatalities.

>> i ask everybody to focus on one thing right now and that is that dallas police officers, their families, those that are deceased, those that are in the hospital. >> reporter: a contrast to the peaceful demonstrations in baton rouge for alton sterling shot thursday after a confrontation with police. that is provokining questions a outrage nationwide calling for the officer to be charged with murder. at a vigil for sterling louisiana's governor asked to keep the peace. >> now may be a time for demonstrations. it may be a time for protests but there is no time for violence. >> reporter: the unrest continued in minnesota where demonstrators held a vigil for philandro castille. it shows the moments after an officer shoots him, his

girlfriend streaming it online. mark dayton called for justice. >> would this have happened if the drivers or passengers were white? i don't think it woutd would. justice must be heard. >> reporter: it's not yet clear what happened in the moments before either confrontation. as communities look for answers the investigations are just beginning. nbc news. >> we are staying on top of this news in dallas. police in a moving tribute touds parkland memorial hospital. n't . see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

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james comey sat before congress yesterday. he defended the decision not to recommend criminal charges for hillary clinton while she was secretary of state. peter alexander has more. >> classified information -- >> reporter: the grilling began almost immediately. >> that's not a crime? that's outrageous? >> reporter: demanding to know why she wasn't despite calling handling of classified information extremely careless. >> secretary clinton said there

was nothing marked classified either sent or received is that true? >> that's not true. >> reporter: still, he strongly defended his decision saying that the law in question had been used in one prosecution. >> no prosecutor focused on gross negligence. >> reporter: comey saying the decision was his alone. >> no body outside the fbi family had any idea what i was about to say. i say that understood oa oath. >> reporter: three were marked with a small c but contained no classified header at the top. >> i think it's possible she dnl know what a c meant when she saw it in the body of an e-mail like that. >> republicans aren't buying it. >> isn't she an original

classification authority? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. >> good grief. >> republicans have turned on you with a vengeance. >> reporter: he will ask comey to review. >> if anybody else had done this they would probably be in handcuffs. >> comey said hillary did a really bad, irresponsible thing. breaking knnews out of dall. we'll be right back. ight... even if you're just staying in. walgreens has all the beauty products you need for whatever makes you feel beautiful. walgreens. at the corner of happy and healthy. now get 5,000 bonus points when you spend 25 dollars or more on participating beauty and personal care products.

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at 21 past the hour joining me is cal perry. there has been so much coming in here from dallas. social media taking the lead here. >> if you want today see a dlifr dying in the streets of dallas all you needed was an internet connection. this has become a problem. at one point the gunman was held up in the -- what was it, the parking lot. they figured he might have a cell phone and be watching. >> there was a man who was put out as a person of interest. it was a man who brought a very high powered gun to the rally. >> yes. he is walking with an ar-15

through the ral. they put him out and called him a suspect. his brother said no. no. no. no. no. he turned the rifle over. we saw him in cell phone videos walking around the streets. he turned himself in. police have cleared him. >> that's his brother there. >> so he takes this ar-15 with him to the rally. it is legal to do that. you can take it and carry it around in public. he turns it in. the brother said he was worried for his safety because of having that. >> exactly. and putting it on social media, it's a great way unless it's the wrong information. this man is receiving threats online because his picture was desimilar na deseminated. you can carry guns openly in 47

states. >> it sounded like something horrific. it was just the sound of the gunfire. >> i covered the war in iraq for many years. if you saw a complex like this in iraq, somebody trained these people how to shoot these guns this way. >> and they say it is coordinated. are they certain there were two snipers? >> we know of at least one sniper for sure. we don't know if he started as a sniper and came down. >> thank you. appreciate that. i'm alex and this is "early today." take one of those pillows and take a big smell. they smell really fresh. what if we told you we washed these sheets 7 days ago. really no way downy?

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11 officers shot. all of a sudden you have seen them just fall, witnesses recount dallas horror. one woman said she took her children to the rally as fg they could say they were part of as a positive experience. in the washington post dallas sniper shootings, when, where and how often police are shot dead in america. the mufrds in dallas represent the largest killings since september 11th.

shootings peaked since the 70s and have been on the decline ever since however these do not reflect the dallas shootings. it is up 17% from the same date last year. sports figures go online to speak out. frank kaminski says everyone has family members and lovered ones who are effected. why compound to make matters worse? justin tuck says eye for eye means we all soon will be blind. hate for hate. i choose to love even those that hate me. 11 law enforcement officers have been shot and five of them died overnight in what is described to be an ambush-style shooting. protesters took to the streets after police killed alton

sterling. minutes before 9:00 p.m. central time shots were fired from snipers by elevated positions. it seemed to be an effort to kill as many law enforcement officers as possible. three people in custody. a fourth person is dead. president obama has expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. >> we still don't know all of the facts. what we do know is that there has been a vicious calculated and dispickable attack on law enforcement. police in dallas were on duty doing their jobs, keeping people safe during peaceful protests. >> thanks so much for watching "early today." we want to leave you with some of the tragic images from the events in dallas last night.

nbc bay area begins with breaking news. >> gunfire and panic breaking overnight in dallas. five dallas police officers are shot dead after snipers ambushed them in the middle of a peaceful protest. it has been a devastating past nine hours in dallas. good morning on this friday. i'm sam brock. >> i'm kris sanchez. let's take you live out to dallas right now where it is 6:30 in the morning. and you can see the city is still very much on edge. and there is a very heavy police presence in the downtown area. right now detectives are