is micah xavier johnson, who is dead. there are three other suspects in police custody. this morning, the dallas police chief revealed what the deceased suspect said during negotiations. but said those talks eventually broke down and that's when police september in a robot with a bomb attached that killed him. >> other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger. the suspect is deceased. as a result of detonating the bomb. the suspect said he was upset about black lives matter. he said he was upset about the recent police shootings. the suspect said he was upset at white people. the suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers. the suspect stated he was not

affiliated with any groups, and he stated that he did this alone. >> all right. so we're going to have more on the police tactic used to kill the gunman coming up. also this morning, president obama speaking from poland, where he is there to attend the nato summit. speaking directly about dallas. >> i believe that i speak for every single american when i say that we are horrified over these events, and that we stand united with the people, and the police department in dallas. let's be clear. there is no possible justification for these kinds of attacks. or any violence against law enforcement. i would ask all americans to say a prayer for these officers and their families. keep them in their -- in your thoughts. and as a nation, let's remember to express our profound gratitude to our men and women in blue, not just today, but every day. so far, one of the officers

killed has been identified. he was brent thompson, part of the dallas area rapid transit police force, known as d.a.r.t. now the mayor said officer thompson was just married less than two weeks ago. officials say the other four officers killed were from the dallas police force. i want to go to katie blaky with our nbc station kxas, live at dallas city hall. and katie, explain some more of the details that we have been able to learn just over the last few hours, since we heard from the mayor and police chief. >> reporter: well, you know, we heard from them just a little bit after sunup. and there were some revealing information they gave. that was the first time we really understood what had taken place. there downtown between police and that suspect, who has now been identified as micah xavier johnson. that's what a law enforcement source confirming to nbc news and our local sources here in dallas have confirmed. what they were able to tell us, as we know, shots rang out just about 9:00 dallas time last night. there was a lot of chaos as we

know. but in the few hours ago, we learned that police were involved in that standoff situation with this man who appeared to hole himself up inside a parking garage at el central college, a community college here in the heart of downtown dallas. what we have learned from authorities is that when trying to speak to him, when they pulled in their hostage negotiators to talk to him, he was very uncooperative. he made multiple statements, saying that he was upset over the killing of black men by white officers. and that he was specifically wanting to target white people and white police officers. that really was -- as much information as the dallas police chief would reveal at this moment. we were still working to get more information on who this man is. we know we have our crews headed to what we believe is his home in mesquite, texas, a suburb here of dallas. we were able to find that location because we believe a car that may have belonged to

him remains at the crime scene and we were able to trace that car back to an address in mesquite, texas. we know that negotiations broke down and police killed the suspected shooter that they have identified in all of this. a lot of information still to process and a lot to happen here today in the city of dallas, as we talked about it. five police officers have been murdered. and this is a massive crime scene within the city of dallas. the city of dallas has cameras all around downtown, so you know they're going to be processing that information. but when you also think about hundreds of people who were there when these shots rang out, they have photos, they have videos, they have images, eye witnesses to what took place. dallas police will be not only processing that crime scene, the large crime scene, but talking to people who were directly there, who were eye witnesses to what happened. we did watch overnight at dallas police headquarters. they actually loaded up a bus of eye-witnesses to what occurred, and sent them to dpd headquarters to begin interviewing them and asking

them questions. we're going to hope to start a -- talk to some of them later today and figure out exactly what they saw and what they were able to convey to police. but there is still a lot we don't know here, a lot we don't know about this shooter, and we're still not clear if there was anyone else involved. we have heard dallas police chief say that if there is anyone else out there that could be involved, they were going to try and hunt them down and they would bring them to justice. >> so katie, mesquite, texas. that suburb. explain how far that is from you, and also to your point about potential other suspects. we know that police took three other people into custody. have you heard any more about them? >> reporter: so, mesquite is just about 10, 20 minutes away from here in downtown dallas, one of the communities you go straight from dallas into mesquite, part of the sprawling metropolis here in ft. worth. right up on the dallas county the line or the dallas line, dallas city alignments. so not far from here at all. when we talked about initially,

we had heard four suspects, then there was the one who we confirmed was killed and then the police chief mentioned three other possible suspects who had had been taken into custody. well, they said earlier at a press conference, they were not going to release any information about those three suspects. so we don't know right now if those three suspects remain in custody, if they have cleared those people. what could have happened. as we know, any time we have scenes like this, when there is just absolute chaos that is unfolding, there is a lot of developing information, a lot of fluid information. as you can imagine, police in those early moments had no idea who was shooting at them. and who may have been involved. so right now we really don't know any more about those three possible suspects. the police chief only saying they didn't want to release any information, because they weren't sure if anyone else who maybe had not been captured had been involved so trying to stay tight-lipped so if anyone else was responsible, bring them to justice. >> katie blaky, thank you. i appreciate that. we go to nbc's craig melvin,

joining us from dallas. and craig, i understand that you are with the member of the d.a.r.t. force. >> reporter: thomas, i am. i'm with -- this is the chief of d.a.r.t. here in dallas. james spiller. we're trying to find out just a little bit more about officer brent thompson, the officer that you guys lost last night. what more can you tell us about him and how his family is doing? >> brent was a great officer. he came to us from texas, and performing as a patrol officer and rail officer. last night during this unfortunate time, he was performing as a patrol officer. his responsibilities were to be near our train station and rosa parks plaza and our bus transfer center, as well as watching the protesters as a supplement of security to dallas police department. and unfortunately, he was in the location where he was supposed to be, along with other officers, when the shooting occurred. and unfortunately, he was shot

and killed. >> reporter: is it true that he had -- he had just gotten married? >> yes. he had just gotten remarried two weeks ago to another officer in the department. and she has done well. i just finished speaking with her. she just went to sleep. and we have an officer assigned to her, as well as our other officers that were injured. we have officers assigned to them and their families. >> reporter: let's talk about the officers who were injured. my understanding that there were three that were in the hospital, one has been released recently. what more can you tell me about that? >> he has been released. he is at home, he's resting well. i met him last night and his family, as well. the other officer, the female -- >> reporter: this officer, jesus let anna. >> released without injury. >> officer mcbride was resting well. i spoke with the officer who is assigned to her about 45 minutes

ago. our other officer, omar cannon, they're still trying to decide how they're going to approach his surgery. but it's not life-threatening that we have been informed. and we have officers with them also. >> reporter: that's certainly good news to hear, chief. for folks who are not as familiar with transit here in dallas, and the role that d.a.r.t. plays, can you speak to precisely what it was that your officers were doing last night with regard to the protests? why were they a part of the police presence? >> what they were there for was -- when we're dealing with a large protest group, we have our train tracks. we want to make sure that if they come to cross our tracks that they're not crossing the tracks when we have a train coming. so they're there to try to regulate the crossing of the tracks, as well as to watch the traffic, and also they're there to make sure that those people who are coming in on trains, whether they're coming in to be part of the protest or if they're just the regular people

that are in our every day, make sure they're loading and unloading is not being impeded. >> reporter: i know you have lived in this community a long time. how is dallas doing? >> dallas has done great. we will bounce back. it's a gut punch, you know? this is not something to be expected in dallas, especially with the police department. we have received an outpouring of support all across the u.s., all across north texas. as well as i've had individuals reach out to me from canada and london. and, you know, we'll bounce back. but it's tough. >> reporter: there has been some criticism from a congressman here in texas as you probably know by now. the criticism being that perhaps the police department was not as prepared as it could have been for the protests, officers participating to a certain extent with some of the protesters instead of policing and being prepared for what might happen. what do you say to that?

>> well, i hadn't heard those comments. but i know from my perspective with our transit police force, and i don't speak for dallas. but i know we're all into community-oriented policing. we're into the communities. we have one of the most successful programs there was last year with chief david brown, and his department with -- and david brown also has an event coming up called "let's talk" where he focuses on teens. we have programs, we have customer service events, where we engage the community, we engage our riders. so we are all very much into community-oriented policing. and not just here. i service 13 other cities and every last one of those chiefs are into community-oriented policing too. and also, when we start talking community-oriented policing, it's important to know that just last week, i was invited to the white house to participate in a discussion on the president's task force on 21st-century policing, where he has these

pillars that we're all taking a look at. and one of those is engaging the community. one is procedural justice, use of force. those kinds of things. and training. you know, so i'm not aware of the congressman's statement. but i can tell you, those are the things we're doing. i'm very proud of the response of my officers, as well as the dallas officers. because keep in mind, when the shooting started, the first thing that they all did was make sure they got the protesters out and made sure they were safe, got back to take care of the injured officers, and then began to engage the suspect while they were going back to get those injured officers. had that not happened, i think we would have seen a lot more fatalities and injuries than what we saw. >> reporter: i think you are correct. they did what they're all trained to do. they protected and served. >> absolutely. >> reporter: chief, it's a pleasure. our thoughts and prayers continue to be with you and the department and the city of dallas, as well. >> can you ask chief spiller, we have the identity of the one

suspect in micah xavier johnson. is it he believe it's just one shooter, or does he think there were other shooters, that there were multiple on-scene? >> reporter: the shooter's name has been released, 25-year-old micah xavier johnson. dallas area resident, apparently. based on what you saw and based on what you've heard, do you think that he acted alone, or do you think that he had to have had some help? >> you know, i really can't address that, because the investigation is being handled by dallas. i do have some officers that aare assisting them with that, especially where our officers were involved. so i really can't speak to that until i get a chance to get back to my office and talk with my people. and i'm sure i'll have an opportunity to engage with chief brown, as we normally do, with kind of after-action reports, to see what happens. so i really can't speak to how he acted. >> reporter: we know that roughly 20 square block radius

here in downtown dallas continues to be shut down. what precautions are you guys taking, what other precautions is the city taking right now? >> one of the things we did this morning right after they cleared the scene, you may have heard there was talk of explosive devices being placed all around the city. before any trains came through, we conducted a check of our tracks with our k-9 teams, with officers walking the tracks in the downtown area. as well as we had inspections of our buses to make sure nothing was happening. but we have gone on right now, is that i have my officers drawing in closer, where we're actually monitoring our stations within dallas proper. but on the outside, i have our suburban cities, thanks to their support, they're taking care of our stations and buses on the outside. and if you look around here, it isn't just dallas. you see the dallas county sheriff. you see texas department of public safety.

and that's how north texas responds. we respond to help each other. thomas? >> on the scene in dallas. thank you very much. appreciate it. also we appreciate chief spiller's time. we know it's a tough time for his d.a.r.t. family, and the dallas pd. just a reminder, coming up, attorney general loretta lynch making a statement, in roughly about 15 minutes. we'll bring that to you live. we have also found out that multiple senior law enforcement officials are telling nbc news that federal investigators are focusing on whether there are ties between the shooter or shooters to radical or extremist groups domestically. they have ruled out any international connections, and are only focusing on any domestic ties to extremist groups. breaking news coverage right here continues. we have the reverend michael waters, pastor of joy tabernacle church in dallas. he just finished speaking at

last night's protests when the shots first rang out. first, more from the witnesses, those on the ground describing what happened as shots rang out and they ran for their lives. >> no one could know what was going on. we just started to run, and grab kids and help their mothers get to somewhere safe. we didn't want anyone else to get hurt. i'm just trying to get home so i don't get hurt like somebody else. >> it's been an emotional night. >> that's it. i'm tired of waking up every morning, seeing the same thing over and over again. over again. and no one has any answers. (vo) stank face. a universal expression of disgust, often caused by inadequate cat litter. if you or your a loved one suffers from stank face, the cure is tidy cats. it's new and improved with guaranteed tidylock protection that locks away odors. so you don't have to face one more stank face.

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we're back now with the latest breaking news out of dallas, where five police officers have been killed in a

sniper-style ambush. here's what we know right now. a senior law enforcement official saying the suspect killed by police last night is believed to be 25-year-old micah xavier johnson. they say he is from the dallas area. a suburb called mesquite. in a news conference this morning, the dallas police chief felt they had no option other than to use deadly force against the suspect. after several hours of negotiations broke down and exchange of gunfire. the suspect told a hostage negotiator he wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers. three people also in custody. the police chief says more suspects could be out there. 12 officers in total were shot. five killed. they belong to both the dallas police department and the dallas area rapid transit force. want to go back to my colleague, craig melvin, on the ground in dallas. craig has an important guest

with him, someone who spoke at last night's rally. >> reporter: reverend michael waters is his name. his church, joy tabernacle, less than three miles from where we stand here in dallas. you weren't just at the rally last night. you spoke at the rally last night. start by talking about the mood. what was the mood like among the 800 or so protesters? >> there was a lot of pain. when you look at what has occurred over the last at that time 24 hours and the video of the death of alton sterling, the video that came to us from philan philando castile in minnesota. a lot of people gathered together with the pain and people looking for a space where they felt safe, where they were with other persons who were mourning and grieving. but also believe they were coming for a word of hope. >> reporter: police officers at one point were actually marching with the protesters. that's what we have heard. is that what you saw? >> yes. and that's not unusual.

i have personally experienced a very strong and powerful working relationship between activists and the police community when it comes to marches and demonstrations. as we were moving together, the police were making sure that the route was cleared, they were making sure that everyone that was in the march was safe. there was a lot of collaboration that took place last night. >> reporter: reverend, when did you realize something was wrong? >> when i saw massive humanity running in my direction. the march had concluded, individuals moving back in the direction from where the rally began to go to their cars. and then suddenly, i saw massive humanity running in my direction. instincti instinctively, rayen with them. but it wasn't until we ducked for cover that i heard the shooting. >> reporter: you heard the shots. did you hear anything else? did you hear people saying anything? did you hear -- screams? >> it was chaotic, people trying to find shelter. no one knows who is shooting or where the shots are coming from.

individuals with me gathered mind behind a pillar. i began to move individuals with me to another location where we could get out of the way of the gunfire. >> reporter: this 25-year-old that police have identified now, as you probably know, he said that he was motivated by hate, that he wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers. what do you make of that kind of rhetoric? >> of course, i believe that that rhetoric has no place in civil society. i believe dr. king taught us well, that the only thing that can drive out hate is love. and that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. this was a peaceable group, moving together in love, to move towards a better day. and, of course, this harmful and unfortunate action that took place, and indeed we offer our condolences to the police officers, families and all who are experiencing loss today, that did not reflect the mood and attitude. >> reporter: there are a number of folks who have already drawn

a connection between the violence that was committed last night by this one man, and the black lives matter movement. and the other protesters who had assembled there. they have already made that connection. what do you say to that? >> i would definitely say that that was not a reflection of this gathering. this gathering was not a gathering simply of those persons who promote black lives matter. this was actually a picture of america. there were white individuals with black individuals, with latino, jewss, gentiles, christians. young and old people coming together to say we believe and working towards a better day. if you can look and had the opportunity, vantage point to see what i saw, it was actually a hopeful sight. we had courage and strength to continue to work for a better day. and suddenly, chaos happened when gunfire began to take over. >> reporter: reverend michael waters, i appreciate your time. i know you have been up all night. i will let you get some sleep. again, a prayer service, as i

understand, at 1:00 eastern time, 12:00 local, is that right? >> yes. and multiple prayer vigils happening all over the city. my hope and desire for the country, wherever you can, please pray for dallas and the peace of our nation. >> reporter: we will. thank you very much. thomas? >> the prayer service coming up in 90 minutes from now. we'll have some of that here on msnbc. craig, great work. thank you, sir. breaking news coverage continues with more next. before we head to break, more dallas police chief david brown in his own words explaining the details of what happened. >> we are heartbroken. there are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city. all i know is, this must stop. this deviciveness between our

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. welcome back, everybody. want to give a look at the crime scene active right now in dallas. this is right by el centro college, the parking garage. this is where a gunman or potential gun -- potential group of snipers. we're still waiting on confirmation from police on that. we do know the one gunman involved in this has now been identified as micah zaf zaf your johnson, killed after 25 minutes of negotiations with police failed. they sent in a robot into the garage that had a bomb attached. it was during that time of talking and trying to negotiate or surrender that he said his intent was to kill white people, and specifically white police officers. saying he was upset over the black lives matter movement. but this is an aerial look, and you can see how investigators

have marked areas where bullets were dropped, littered all over the scene. it was chaotic. 800 people were marching in dallas, downtown. and they were there to show protest over what they think is, you know, the use of lethal force in terms of police cases where we have seen this week, one with the death of a man in louisiana, the other with a death of a man in minnesota. 100 officers had been assigned, a combination of the dallas police force and d.a.r.t. and now we know five of those officers have lost their lives. now, we're just getting in some of the first calls made to 911, the emergency phone calls that were recorded as they were each trying to describe what was going on during this ambush, and running for their lives. take a listen. >> market and lamar. market and lamar. assist officer, shots fired.

code 3, stay off the radio. officer down. shots fired. officer down. it's an assist officer. >> channel 2, all s.w.a.t. officers on channel 2. code 3. market and lamar. code 3, market and lamar. shots fired. >> we have got to get. [ inaudible ] down here right now. we have 169, get them here! >> we believe he's in el centro college. suspect is inside the el centro building. inside the el centro building! >> i saw him from the first floor. >> i think they've got up on the fifth floor, you've got at least three people. i don't know if they're friendly or not. >> we've got s.w.a.t. outside. we've got an open window on the side of lamar. we've got rifles hanging out. >> so these are the

conversations that were happening between law enforcement officials on the scene, trying to describe and pinpoint where the shooter or shooters were pinned up, and trying to take out different officers on-site. we know there were a couple of protesters that were injured. but the majority of those injured, police officers. the one suspect that police spent some time negotiating surrender with, telling them his intent was to kill white people, specifically white police officers. i want to bring in now msnbc law enforcement analyst, jim cavanaugh, a retired atf special agent and hostage negotiator. jim, let's start there with the negotiations, the kind of conversations that would have gone back and forth. we had the police chief saying they were able to gain a lot of information from the suspect, including a potential motive, but they were not able to get his surrender. >> right. it sort of appears they might have been yelling back and forth, maybe not even on the telephone, but just yelling back

and forth. he was in the parking garage. we're not sure of that. it could have been a telephone. but maybe just yelling. and that's why the information from him is so cryptic and basic that he wanted to kill officers, he wanted to kill white officers. he talked about the bombs he had. and, of course, he wouldn't really engage with the negotiators, thomas. and he discussed having bombs planted around the city. those are escalating factors the commanders have to read. if the guy is alive, he could have a trigger mechanism, a cell phone detonator, and he could detonate a bomb in the city. so they have to read that as an escalation. and then they have to decide to make a move, and that's why they decided to use the tactics they did. >> well, when you think about the fact that he was in the el centro college parking garage, and in an area that could be pretty well clear of people, this that they would be able to keep out of there. but if folks watched what happened, police have to go into all those protocols of thinking,

what if, what if, what if. and then also, based on the intelligence they're trying to get during that negotiation. as it stands right now, we're trying to find out if there are more than one shooter involved in this, jim. from some of the sources you've spoken to, have they given you any better insight into some of those original reports that this seemed to be a set of locations where shots were being fired? >> right. it's all still very confusing. here's the way they're going to sort this out quickly. they're going to go to each site where they think shots were fired. and there's going to be shell casings. and they're going to get those shell casings, and they're going to see if they're different. different firearm than the one on the deceased shooter. are they all the same gun? was he moving? and different with the window or parking garage, the shooter we saw on the ground, or was there a different firearm involved, a different rifle? likely the guy is not shooting

two different rifles. so if there is different brass casings match a different rifle, well, then you have another shooter. do you have that rifle in custody? or has he gone somewhere? so it's not clear really that it's not -- could still be one shooter. different places. this guy is clearly moving around on the video we watched. >> column to column. and from you looking at that, i mean, just as, you know, an experienced observer, did that demonstrate any type of tactical training? >> reporter: no, i wouldn't go that far. he -- when he left the first pillar, he kind of went wide into the corridor there. that's not what a trained s.w.a.t. operator, tactical person would do. they would move quickly to the other pillar to cover and stay lower than he did. he moved really slow, he moved wide. you know, he had small steps, and also the first shot he fired around the pillar, he just fired the gun. he didn't aim it at a target or anything.

that's not very good discipline, a really trained person would have a target when they elevated their gun to shoot. he just kind of fired a round off and then he kind of walked a half circle. but he was aggressive. and when he killed that one dallas officer by charging and getting him -- shooting him in the back, he was very aggressive. and i think that was part of his operational style, just to be very, very aggressive. looked like he had a vest on, maybe some ammo in the back. he's ready to shoot it out, and who knows if he had a plan to escape or just die there. >> and jim, i just want to give a preview. our viewers are seeing the box beneath -- my head right now and your head before, waiting for attorney general loretta lynch coming out any moment to speak about the situation and the investigation from dallas. we have heard at nbc news from multiple senior law enforcement sources saying that federal investigators are focusing on whether there are any ties between the shooter or shooters. and radical or extremist domestically. they are saying they have basically ruled out any ties to

islamic terrorism groups which is isis or al qaeda. but when we get back to your specific point about looking for those shell casings and that being a marker for where the shooter or shooters were operating from, some say that it was from a perch, coming from the interior of the parking garage or a higher point. and then we see the lower point where he's going pillar to pillar. so it's either he was able to move swiftly or that there is potentially another shooter. would that be your best observation? >> exactly right. but, you know, the witnesses described that this shooting went on for a number of minutes over a period of 40 minutes. a person can walk to the second floor of a parking garage in a couple, three or four minutes. so it's not impossible that one person could have moved around and fired from different locations. we just don't have that answer. or it could be two or even more

shooters. one way to find out easily if you don't have them in custody is to look at that brass real fast and see if it compares. if it doesn't, you have another gun or another shooter. so it's just the thing to look at. witnesses vary in things, a gun flash here, a muzzle flash there. a guy can run down two flights of stairs and start shooting. . . the video where he shoots around the pillar, we don't know if he goes in the parking garage. he could have gone up a couple levels and shot more. >> jim, let me ask you to stand by. we know police are taking in a lot of different content. so many people have mobile devices that they started using during the panicked moments after the chaos broke out. craig melvin on the scene there in dallas, and has some new information about the suspected gunman. craig. >> reporter: thomas, i'm sorry, i didn't hear you. repeat. >> so you have new information

about the suspected gunman. >> reporter: thomas, what we can tell you is that based on a conversation i've had with the law enforcement official on the ground here, he tells me that based on conversations that he has had, this is apparently this is a guy who planned this, also a guy that had some tactical knowledge. this was a guy who knew precisely how to pick off police officers. that is what senior law enforcement official here on the ground in dallas is telling me at this point. >> all right. so that's a brand-new development. we're looking at the video shot of this portion, jim cavanaugh, how he was moving around pillar to pillar. and craig, from the other sources from what you're hearing on the ground, i think the larger question goes to trying to figure out whether or not johnson was working alone during this time period. have they revealed any more information about what they think the theory is?

>> reporter: no. they have not. and as you know, there are a number of suspects that are still in custody we were told at last check they were not cooperating. but, you know, we just talked to an eyewitness here who is part of the protest. and we just had the reverend on, as well. who was part of the protest. and they both said to me off camera, that it would be hard to believe, based on the shots the that they heard, they found it hard to believe that it was just one person acting alone. again, that's not coming from a law enforcement official. that's just folks who were part of the protest. and as we have been hearing over the last few hours or so, the video of folks running the video of the gunshots, it's a whole heck of a lot of shots being fired by one person. so -- but, again, we should couch this with officials have not said whether there was more than one person. and, again, at last check, the suspects, and they are still

being called at, suspects still in custody, although we're told they are not cooperating. >> craig melvin on the scene in dallas. thanks very much. we are waiting for remarks from attorney general loretta lynch. when we come back, brian williams will be here. [ guitar playing ] ugh. heartburn.

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[announcer] is it a force of enjoy thnature?f. or a sales event? the summer of audi sales event is here. get up to a $5,000 bonus on select audi models. we are back, brian williams with you from new york, to continue our coverage. and we want wanted to just set the scene as we have been talking about. we are expecting to hear from the attorney general of the united states, loretta lynch. that is set up and the press corps is assembled in washington. of course, the president landed last night for the nato summit in warsaw, poland. when he did, he talked about what we thought was the compelling case of the night, and the two -- the killings of philando castile and alton sterling, and then the explosion

of violence in texas. craig melvin out in dallas. craig, as we approach another top of the hour as folks are continuing to wake up following a late night on both coasts, update us on what we know that's new. when a lot of people went to bed, we assumed what we feared, this was something of an urban army. this was multiple gunmen and then some in dallas. >> reporter: we can tell you that according to federal officials, brian, at this point, this does not appear to be terrorism. and, again, the definition of that varies. but the government's definition. based on that, this was not an act of terrorism. at this point, they believe that the gunman acted alone. this is a 25-year-old gunman, micah xavier johnson. he is, or at least for the last few years, has lived in the

dallas area. it is not clear whether he is from the dallas area. but we are told -- in fact, i'm going to step out of the way. if i can get my photographer to show this brick building behind me, that is the parking garage where we are told there was a robot with an explosive device on the end of its arm. that was used to detonate -- to detonate this explosive device and the gunman died during the course of that debt nation. there had been some confusion earlier whether he took his own life. but police officials saying a few hours ago that after hours of negotiating with him and exchanging gunfire, they felt as if they had no choice, but to use the robot to take down the 25-year-old gunman. we can also update you on the condition of a number of the officers. 12 were shot, 5 are dead. a number of them still in the hospital. i talked to the head of d.a.r.t. that's the that is area regional transit here in dallas, texas.

he tells me that jesus rattano, one of the officers, released from the hospital. misty mcbride, d.a.r.t. officer, had injuries nonlife threatening, will soon be released from the hospital. and 44-year-old omar cannon, undergoing surgery here in the next few hours, but his injuries are also said to be nonlife threatening. the head of d.a.r.t. here in dallas telling me that they expect all of their officers will be released from the hospital in the next few days. meanwhile, the officer who was killed, brent thompson, just got married two weeks ago, we're told. we're told that d.a.r.t. has talked to his wife. she is, as you might imagine, extremely distraught. they have an officer positioned

outside of that home, but brent thompson so far the only officer who has been killed who has been identified so far. there is going to be a prayer vigil here at noon. noon local time. 1:00 eastern. there is going to be a prayer vigil. they are expecting hundreds of folks to assemble for that. there are a number of other vigils that we're hearing about. nothing official. a number of other vigils planned as well. we can tell you more about that protest last night. we have talked to a number of eye-witnesses, i talked to a pastor who spoke at the protest, roughly 800 or so folks had gathered. according to both of them, this was not just black lives matter protest. this was a protest that was an accurate representation of america. white people, black people, young, old, latinos, all of them had converged here in dallas to protest what a lot of folks have

been protesting in this country over the last year or so. protests that perceived overuse of force. that was the purpose of the gathering. it's still not clear precisely who organized the event. but it was peaceful. everyone that we have talked to said that at no point during the gathering was there any sense that something like this might happen. however, at the end, as it started to break apart, chaos ensued. folks running in all directions. shots ringing out. hundreds of people ducking for cover. of there had been a criticism earlier from a congressman in texas. one of the criticisms being that police officers might not have been as prepared as they should have been, because they were participating in the marching. we talked to the head of d.a.r.t. a short time ago who completely dismissed that idea, said that his officers and the

officers of the dallas police department are not just well-trained, but among the best-trained in the country to deal with what we precisely saw last night. he expressed a expressed the sentiment that we've heard from a number of folks here that it is a flat out amazing that there was not a greater loss of life here, brian. >> craig, when we're looking at these aerial pictures in realtime of the area around where you are, we see those familiar yellow markings of either where rounds landed, where shells were found, i imagine they are close to running out of ways to mark them. i'm wondering if anyone has told you when we expect an all-clear. when every corner of the central business district has been searched for the explosives we feared were around last night. >> reporter: we want to show you, you've got an aerial view i

think we can show you around you as well. if we can zoom in on that police car. the yellow tape there around main street. there is a 20 block area, 20 block radius that's been shut off here in downtown dallas for folks who are not familiar with the dallas/ft. worth area, this is the heart of dallas, texas, the crowned plaza total. the western hotel. a number of skyscrapers are i this area. there are literally hundreds of folks who cannot get their cars. we've talked to some folks who have been closer to what is stiman active crime scene, brian, and they tell me that you can see dozens, dozens of shell casings that are still strewn about the streets here in downtown dallas, texas. no idea when this is going to be an area that is open for business if you will. we've seen a number of, of

police officers, crime scene technicians, walking about over the last hours. and again, i didn't see precisely what you can see, but from my vantage point, we see roughly a half dozen or so folks in front of that parking garage that aforementioned parking garage where the 25-year-old suspect was taken down. that appears to be the center point, if you will, of the crime scene right now. >> all right. craig mel individual on the streets of dallas. craig, thanks, we'll be coming back to you, of course. jim cavanaugh in charge of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. this part of the investigation really comes into your area of expertise now. jim, when i got off the air 4:00 a.m. eastern, we had every reason to believe, as i said to craig, this was a kind of urban army.

certainly more than one person, certainly multiple suspects, and police described the triangulation of fire. if it is in fact one heavily armed suspect, then some of that could be, the kind of echo report of a long barrel weapon being fired, i guess. the question to you, ginn your life's expertise is where do you ginl the forensic investigation in an urban area this large? >> well, you start right at the body of the deceased shooter. and the first thing you do is you're going to photograph him, wallet and id, and that's where you're going to begin to find out who he is. and of course that's a crime scene now that's being processed as a crime scene. they've swept it clear of explosives. so we don't have all the answers they have, but one question is, is there multiple shooters like you just raised, brian? was this guy moving from place to place and shooting and they thought there was multiple

shooters or other guns and other shootders? and do they have the guns and those shooters? you know, his information to the police, to the negotiator that i planted bombs across the city, probably led to his quicker demise. commanders would have to make a decision that that is escalating, while he's in there he could remote a detonator. and so they used the technique very innovative, really, not used i can't remember a case since philadelphia in '85 where explosives were used against suspects like this. there may be a couple, i don't remember any. but you know, sure we use those robots all the time on barricaded suspects. we put cameras on them. we talk toment ises through them. we have video and audio. they can fire gas, they can fire a shotgun, they can pull open doors. it's unusual to put explosives on there to kill someone. and that's, that was the unique

decision the commanders made, brian, to probably go up the ramp in the parking garage because they knew if they exposed the tactical officer, he would be subject to rifle fire which this guy already shot 11 officers. he's going to shoot you. that's smart money. smart decision-making. smart move, and you know, they blew him up. that's going to be a real messy scene for them there. >> jim, explain part of the kind of mundane type of investigation we're seeing on the screen. and that is the officer pacing a distance off with the small wheel at end of the stick. the yellow markings, talk to folks about -- because that's really at street level and it all goes into the massive case file. >> right. exactly. well forensics, it means for the court. and of course so many people watch the crime shows on tv, they get so knowledgeable on the

stuff, but it's all for the court. so it has to be measured and located and plotted on a map by the crime scene technicians. with all the bullets, we used the thing in atf and the police, the dallas police use it too where they could actually laser traject each round you could put a laser beam, you can see where the rounds went, you can track that back to where the shooter would be standing. that's all catalog for the forensic examination. and if there's -- one shooter's dead, but other suspects may be alive, and if they were charged with a conspiracy, all these facts would come into play. it's marked, it's measured. it's photographed, it's cataloged, it's even more sophisticated these days with laser mapping, forensic crime scene mapping we call it. and so, it's very sophisticated. and it's going to be very slow. and right behind all of this is the detectives and agents tracking down all this other stuff, brian.

you're going to see a search of the mesquite house today based on a warrant i'm sure for the computers and affects of the deceased. and you may see other warrants across the metropolitan area. whether these other suspects have got attorneys, it seems like they may have asked for council, that might have slowed down any questioning, but there's still lots and lots of information to gather. who are they? you know, what were they doing with this guy? acting in concert? is there a connection to any domestic group that may have wanted to do something like this. there's all kinds of groups that are against the police and separatist groups and anarchist groups. so was it just their own volition or was some other connection to do this. they're looking at all that stuff. >> and jim of course, a warrant at the home of this suspect is not an easy task. we've seen before suspects who think they're going into die in a mission have left weapons and explosives back home. >> right.

exactly the point. and also he said, you'll find the ieds. so the first thing you're going to have to do is who else is living there? is his parents there? is his other family members there or spouse, child, brother, sister, girlfriend? you have to find that out. and then you're going to have to get those people out, debrief them. then you're going to have to sweep the house, like there is a bomb there so the bomb squad will be called in again in mesquite to go do that. once it's rendered safe. then they can go back in and do the crime scene forensics to get the computers, photographs, papers. trying to recreate his life. trying to get, you know, we call a psychological autopsy for the last few months of his life, why is this guy doing this? what writings did he leave? who's he connected to? what's it all about? >> jim cavanaugh has been working tirelessly for us on the air after the first word that this happened. we'll come back, thanks. timmy lightener who was in baton

rouge is today outside baylor university medical center in dallas, is there any good news out of there? >> reporter: brian, at this point we know some of the victims were brought here. the hospital is not saying how many victims were brought here, or what their conditions are. they're promising to release information when it's appropriate. we know that four of the people that were shot were dallas area rapt transit officers. now one of those was killed and the other three were treated. we know that one of them has been released. they all have non-life threatening injuries. we've had a crew out here all morning, we haven't seen any family members coming or going? but we'll stay out here and monitoring things. >> tammie lightener outside of baylor hospital. reminder to everybody, we have two different jurisdictions we're going to be talking about. this kind of entered the conversation last night. dallas police department, dpd and d.a.r.t., the dallas area rapid transit police officers.

they have light rail routes to police. they have bus routes to police. and stations downtown. jim cavanaugh last night was talking about the various markings we should look for. patrol markings on the uniforms of the dallas police. what has been germane since the first word of these shootings was the stance of police during this peaceful protest last night. they were not outfitted in riot gear. they were not outfitted in the big bulky kevlar helmets and visible automatic weapons. they were in their summer service uniforms. mostly short sleeves. some of the officers were wearing shorts for a hot night in dallas, texas. especially those officers meant to be part of the community outreach. they had been in on the planning of the peaceful protest last