department that's getting the word out of a person of interest or of a suspect which is how they phrased it on their twitter. i also don't know what the appropriate thing to do now is. they have removed the tweet. a lot of people on twitter are saying they should have a correctional tweet. i don't know that that would help the situation. his photo would still be out there. but certainly the dallas police department, a police department that has been very progressive in their use of social media, was live tweeting this march when the shooting started, now has to go back and do a lessons learned on social media, on the digital sphere, because it's now something that we just live with every day, these livestreaming videos, whether it's periscope or facebook live, this is the new reality. >> the brother of mark hughes was one of the organizers of the event. he spoke at the event. he appeared with his brother on live television today. again, cal, we talked about this last night. people on both coasts were stunned by the still picture of

that ar-15, especially the second photo that came out of him on the edge of the crowd with the long gun visible by his side. that in combination with the camo, civilians looking on at the photo thought well, surely that is our suspect. >> right. i was really taken aback with your conversation with jacob rascone. it's not something we are used to seeing. i'm not used to seeing people walk around openly carrying guns. even in a place like texas, people are just not used to seeing it. now, he was making a statement. he was making a statement about the second amendment and his second amendment right as he sees it to openly carry that weapon in texas but that image is certainly shocking to a lot of people. >> thank you, cal perry, in our newsroom. again, to set the scene for the folks just joining us, for the 6:00 hour on the east coast, 3:00 p.m. on the west coast, we are watching two events. in philadelphia at the

convention center there, the african methodist episcopal church celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. they are in the midst of introducing hillary clinton to their plenary gathering there. in texas, we are about to hear from among others, the governor of that state, governor abbott, at this event. and we have been given a two-minute warning that this is about to begin so we are tracking both of these live events. we have craig melvin in dallas remaining in dallas for us, and craig, we are looking now at mayor rawlings coming into the room and here indeed is governor abbott coming toward the podium. let's listen in.

we are waiting for audio from the room. we should hear from -- looks like we will hear from the mayor first. because the governor's in a wheelchair he will use the lectern down and to the left when he goes back to it. craig melvin, we have reason to believe we will get updated on the investigation? >> reporter: yes. we do expect to learn a little bit more, brian. we're not sure precisely how much more but in the past five, ten minutes or so, we have learned according to multiple law enforcement sources that the 25-year-old used an sks rifle.

i'll stop talking now. we probably want to listen. >> the mayor is under way. >> -- to dallas city hall, thank you so much, governor abbott, for coming. governor abbott called me last night. he was out of the state at the time, told me he wanted to come and deliver his goods in person and they have offered some much-needed help in this effort. at the same time, i offered him a flag of the state of -- excuse me, the city of dallas and he'll take that back and austin will fly that in honor of this. before we do that, though, i wanted to deliver a little bit of news that i think is relevant and everybody wants to hear. as many of you know, the police released the confirmation that the deceased suspect was

identified as micah johnson, black male, 25 years old. we have been working this case throughout the night and throughout the day, and we believe given the facts that we have today that mr. johnson, now deceased, was the lone shooter in this incident and by piecing together what was happening at the time after we talked to all -- and interviewed all the officers, there was confusion with everybody running around, but this was a mobile shooter that had written manifestos on how to shoot and move, shoot and move, and he did that. he did his damage but we did our damage to him as well.

and we believe now that the city is safe and the suspect is dead and we can move on to healing. part of that healing is to get the support of our great state. i have had mayors from all over the state call me and lieutenant governor was here today, attorney general and now the governor of the state of texas. thank you, governor abbott, for being here. >> absolutely. mayor, thank you. i want to thank you for the leadership that you always show, but also especially the leadership that you provided over the past 24 hours. you have been a voice of calm, of reason, of the type of leadership that dallas and texas needs at this time. before coming out here i had the opportunity to meet not only with the mayor but also with chief brown, who is going back to work and is not out here with us right now, but also want to

express my gratitude to police chief brown for his unrelenting resolve in focusing on and resolving this issue as swiftly as possible. also want to express the gratitude of the state of texas for all the first responders who responded so quickly, so effectively, to the urgencies of last night, and i want to express my gratitude to the white house that reached out to contact me because of the president's trip, we were unable to make an official connection, but he did want to express his sorrow and grief for the people and law enforcement in dallas, but also any assistance that he could provide. similarly, i want to thank my fellow governors, mayor, like you, i have had governors from across the entire country contact me about ways in which

they could help in expressing their sorrow for dallas' loss. at the same time, i want to express my gratitude for the men and women who are behind me right now. what you are seeing right now is an aggregation of public servants who are coming together in support of the proposition that we stand united behind the people of the city, the people of the state and the law enforcement officials here. i do want to recognize from the state side, right behind me is attorney general ken paxton. we have senators royce west, bob hall, kelly hancock, representatives ken sheets, angie button, linda coop, helene geddings, rodney anderson and i apologize if i missed you. that's the list i have. regardless of who is or who is not on the list, it's essential

to understand the way that the state of texas stands united with the city of dallas. already, the state of texas has provided texas department of public safety officers, texas rangers, forensic specialists to aid in the efforts of responding to this challenge. we need to understand also there will be ongoing challenges. as a result my office is extending aid and support to the dallas police department for counseling for their officers for issues and challenges that they will be facing for some time. now to respond to what has happened in the past 24 hours. the past 24 hours in dallas has been a veritable tale of two cities. on the one hand, it's been the tale of heroism of police officers. at the same time, it's been a tale of cowardice by an

assassin. we are so proud even in our mourning today of the men and women who wear the uniform of the dallas police department as well as the dallas area rapid transit, for their heroism in the face of remarkable danger, running toward danger to aid those who need it the most, fulfilling their oath to serve and protect and do everything they can to help the citizens of this city. for every man and woman of the dallas police department as well as any law enforcement officer in the state of texas, i want you to know you have the respect of a grateful state, and you have a governor who has your back. as it concerns the cowardice, it

seems as though the sole suspect now has received his justice and what will be important is to ensure that there are no other potential co-conspirators with this particular assailant. if there is, they will be sought, they will be found and they will receive the justice they deserve. most importantly today, on this day and in the coming days, the primary message is one word. and that is unity. we need to understand that texas has its own brand of principles that have helped elevate this state to true exceptionalism. texans need to unite behind those very principles that will

continue to elevate dallas and the state of texas. one of those principles is respect and reverence for the men and women who wear the uniform. another is that we, the citizens of this state, need to play our own active role in ensuring safety and security in our communities as well as justice and prosperity across the state. when we unite together behind those principles, we will ensure the texas of tomorrow will be even better than the texas of today. another point is a true texas trademark, and that is the word resilience. texans have faced challenge after challenge after challenge for well over a century, and we

have always shown our trademark resilience, which is needed now as much as ever, and the city of dallas, as the city and the state in parallel work to respond. we must summon the ability to respond to this challenge in a way that will make dallas and texas even stronger. texas is a tough state but just like we have overcome so many challenges in the past, we will overcome this challenge with the future being even better than the past. so thank you, mayor, for the role that you have played. thanks again to chief brown, who could not be with us. thanks to these men and women who stand behind me, beside me and with me as we work our way forward. with that, we will be happy to take a few questions. julie?

[ inaudible question ] >> shock, disbelief and an urgency to return to texas to do everything i could. what i did is as soon as i heard about it, i was on the phone constantly speaking to the mayor, speaking to my staff, assuring that first and foremost, the state of texas was going to get on the ground in dallas, texas, any and all resources that could assist them without interfering with what local law enforcement was doing. i'm proud that texas rangers, texas department of public safety officers and others are assisting in this process. but after the immediate shock, you immediately go into the process of calculating what can we do to help, how can we help resolve this. [ inaudible question ]

>> the best thing that we can do as a city and state to heal is two things. one, show that we are not harmed, damaged or altered by the cowardly attack by someone who does not stand for texas values and principles. we as a people need to move forward and live our everyday lives knowing that texas is going to be greater going forward, unaltered, unaffected by this act of cowardice. second, like what we are showing right this moment, we need to replicate this on an ongoing basis, showing that we as a state, every people of every color of every background, that we unite behind the core principles that make the state of texas a truly exceptional state.

[ inaudible question ] >> i'll clarify what i said. i will let the mayor clarify with his more detailed information. he provided detailed information for you that he can elaborate on. i have no information about any co-conspirators. as a former law enforcement official and prosecutor, i want to make sure that we button down every corner before we rule out any possible co-conspirators. if you recall what the mayor said which he will echo here i think in a second, remember this. we know what the mayor said about the gunman. what we don't know is who if anybody may have known what the gunman knew, what he was going to do, may have assisted him in

any of his efforts and so as good news, the gunman has been identified but i think good law enforcement means that we continue down every rabbit trail until they are exhausted ensuring that we eliminate any other possible suspects or co-conspirators who may have aided this gunman in any way. >> well said. anything i would say would be redundant. [ inaudible question ] >> yeah. so what was happening realtime is there were about 20 individuals in ammo gear and protective equipment and rifles slung over their shoulder. when the shooting started at different angles, they started running.

we started catching. and that's when we proceeded to start to interview them. as we have started to unravel this fishing knot, we realized that the shooting came from one building at different levels by this suspect. [ inaudible question ] >> no. [ inaudible question ] >> no. [ inaudible question ] '. >> so the first question is no. those were separate charges. the second is that we don't know at this point. that's why making sure that we understand this co-conspirator, if there were any that could give us those insights it's going to be important. [ inaudible question ]

>> i think we need to focus on a couple of things. first, we need to focus on our gratitude, our respect and admiration for the role of the law enforcement officers. they played the role that we hoped law enforcement officers will play and that is run toward danger to save lives. we also need to focus on the imperative of unity that we unite of all citizens in dallas, all citizens in the state of texas, understand very importantly what the mayor described today about the background of the shooter, understand this should not be used as a tool of division, but instead, we can use what happened here in dallas for good. what i have found personally is that we are all challenged in different ways, and we may not

understand the reason for that challenge, but what we can do, we can find purpose in every single challenge that occurs. i can find purpose in what happened in dallas, texas and one of those purposes is working together for greater unity in dallas and texas. >> time for one more. [ inaudible question ] >> we are going to send that -- it was sent out earlier in a press release and more details will be coming with that press release i think in the next half hour. excuse me? [ inaudible question ] >> they have not. that's the research they are doing right now. [ inaudible question ] they have. they have. [ inaudible question ] >> the same automated robot

equipment to detonate and defuse bombs was used to place c-4 in place and to detonate that. this was a man that we gave plenty of options to to give himself up peacefully and we spent a lot of time talking. he had a choice to come out and we would not harm him, or stay in and we would. he picked the latter. >> thank you all. >> thank you. >> mayor rawlings and governor abbott concluding their press event there in dallas. while on the left-hand side of your screen, you have no doubt noticed how large the demonstration has grown in atlanta. it appeared when we widen out to be almost a half mile long,

perhaps even longer, and in our control room, we have been cruising around on satellite feeds from our nbc stations, all of which have helicopters in the air. we are seeing demonstrations in several u.s. cities. cal perry is tracking it all. what are you seeing? >> as you said, it's steadily been growing. we saw this last night in new york, where protesters kind of circle around the city and they time it for when people are leaving work and then that kind of naturally snowballs into these larger marches. this was a march that started at centennial park which is for many people who are familiar with atlanta, just outside the cnn center which is actually being shut down right now out of an abundance of caution. it's supposed to end there. the march is supposed to end there as well. you are looking at protesters making their way through downtown atlanta, basically walking in a loop starting and finishing at the same spot. right now, it's a few hundred we

are being told. the atlanta police are not doing anything on social media at all. they are not tweeting about it. but they are there. you can see them sort of moving with the protesters on the side. this is again, what we saw sort of last night in new york and portland, in places where we saw peaceful protests. the relationship between the police department and these local communities is the key in these marches and how they coordinate this protest is going to really dictate how this thing sort of shakes out. >> cal, thanks. i would ask our friends in the control room to just dial around, if we have aerials of other cities. i know the other cities include but are not limited to d.c., philadelphia, and new york. what we found last night is this changes with the time zones. as evening commuting time

arrives as we go west, obviously the helicopter is reconfiguring their shot and circling around to a different angle of the city. we are going to take a break. we are keeping an eye on all of it and we will continue with our live coverage on the other side. i love that my shop is part of the morning ritual around here. people rely on that first cup and i wouldn't want to mess with that. but when (my) back pain got bad, i couldn't sleep. i had trouble getting there on time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for pain relief that can last into the morning. ♪ look up at a new day... hey guys! now i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. ♪ americans are buying more and more of everything online. and so many businesses rely on the united states postal service

to get it there. because when you ship with us, your business becomes our business. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service. priority: you if you then you'll know howuth, uncomfortable it can be. but did you know that the lack of saliva can also lead to tooth decay and bad breath? well, there is biotene, specially formulated with moisturizers and lubricants...

biotene can provide soothing relief and it helps keep your mouth healthy too. biotene, for people who suffer from a dry mouth.

we are back. a large and peaceful protest in atlanta timed with folks getting out of work on a friday, snaking through the city streets. same kind of tactics and rules that we have seen other marches take place. atlanta, one of several cities where this is going on, but this is the most people we have seen on the city streets at this hour. a few minutes ago, we watched the press briefing with the mayor of dallas, texas and the governor of texas, greg abbott, who has been wired up and is

available to talk to us now. governor abbott, thank you very much for being with us. can you shed any light, the press event mentioned the writings and manifestos of this man you have now identified as the sole, solo gunman of last night's violence. >> yes. i met with the mayor right before we had this press conference where both he and the police chief of dallas revealed this information and they believe conclusively there was only a lone gunman who was doing the shooting and it was this man with the manifesto. we will be learning more and revealing more here in the coming days as we are able to release this information but also compile more information. it looks like it was an individual with a very troubled situation in his life who wanted to go on to the attack, so i think that this is not a situation where someone was sowing seeds of racial divide so

much as it was someone who had just gone nuts and had a manifesto to kill cops. but we will see more as we dig into the manifesto and are able to get more information released. >> what do you do about the fact we have these two populations of people in our country and in your state, because it's a subset of our country, of black americans and police officers who both feel targeted concurrently? >> well, first, brian, i think we need to realize you said we have two subsets but the reality in texas just like in most other states, it's not just black and police officers. we have hispanics and asians and people from across the entire world who live here in great population. what we have shown in texas is we have our own unique texas brand. when people gather around certain core principles and values that really have elevated

the state of texas economically, success-wise the home of the second most fortune 500 companies in the country and there's a reason for that. that's because of the entrepreneurship that texas offers regardless of what your race is. that said, i think it is important for texas to play a leadership role in the unification in the united states. i think that we will come out of this situation stronger and better once we all unite behind our core values and principles which have great similarity regardless of what your particular background is. >> because you are the chief executive of the state, i have to ask you about these quotes from your lieutenant governor on fox news, dan patrick, who said quote, all those protesters last night, they ran the other way expecting the men and women in blue to turn around and protect them. what hypocrites. too many in the general public who aren't criminals but have a big mouth, are creating situations like we saw last night. i do blame people on social

media with their hatred toward police. those quotes can't be terribly helpful. >> well, what i think is important from anybody's comment and really just from the reality on the ground yesterday and last night, is there was heroism on display. it's the heroism of the men and women who on wore the uniform who took an oath to help and save others. that's precisely what they did. one thing i wanted to do here today was to make clear the point of the position of the state of texas from the very top that we honor and respect those men and women and to further show that, the governor's mansion tonight is going to be lit up in blue to honor the men and women who wear the blue, the uniform, to show the unity the state of texas and people of all backgrounds have to support our law enforcement officers. >> because you were traveling you perhaps haven't caught up with all the coverage. there was a young man who in an

open carry state, wore his ar-15 to the rally last night, was wrongly identified as a suspect. it has all been cleared up now after some harrowing hours for him, but he in fact offered his ar-15 to a police officer, later says he helped with traffic control. hardly hypocritical. he can't be part of that quote the lieutenant governor is referring to. >> well, as you mentioned, because of travel i missed that. but what i can say is that the men and women wearing the uniform in dallas, texas last night displayed both the brand of heroism as well as the organization to be able to deal with what could be characterized as a chaotic situation and they brought it under control rather swiftly. >> finally, i will let you go, but you said at the press event

that something positive will come out of this, that this will end up being a moment. is it too early to tell what that's going to be? >> maybe so. look, here's the reality that you can't see on your screen, probably. that is i'm a guy in a wheelchair. i had a back-breaking accident literally that left me in a wheelchair and i learned from that that we have life-changing challenges but from those life-changing challenges, we need to find the good that we can bring from them, and just as i was able to rise up and be governor of this state, the people of dallas can rise up and have very successful future despite this tragedy. once we galvanize behind core principles, the core principles that have elevated this great state to its lofty status. >> governor greg abbott of the state of texas, thank you, governor, for joining us following that press event we just carried live as well. we appreciate it. lot of folks in texas at that event are glad to have you back in the state. we now want to welcome

democratic congressman marc vesey, democrat from texas, representing part of the dfw metroplex, the dallas-ft. worth area. he's with us from the capitol in washington. congressman, first of all, what do you make of these quotes? i assume you could hear my interview with the governor, these quotes from the lieutenant governor, dan patrick, about calling the marchers last night hypocrites in dallas. >> well, it's clear to me, brian, that the lieutenant governor doesn't know the entire story. from my understanding from stories on the ground, is that police and protesters were getting along with each other fine, first of all, during the actual protest, taking pictures with one another on social media, but then once the shooting actually started, the protesters and police were helping one another. the police were so brave, they went right into the line of fire despite not having the same caliber weapon as the shooter

had. but they still went in with bravery to try to subdue him, and my understanding was that the protesters were actually aiding the police and giving them directions and any intel they had on the ground with cell phones and things like that. like you just mentioned, the man that was wrongly identified in the picture that he was helping with traffic and i think the important thing to take away from this, brian, instead of trying to pit police against protesters, is that we start talking about unity, because what the lieutenant governor is honing on is exactly the problem. there's too much division in this debate. we need to start talking about how we can come together, how we can start having more transparency, how people can start feeling better about any sort of confrontation or encounter they have with police, and that's where we need to be

headed. there's too much division like that, too much of that rhetoric. it needs to end now. >> what do we do about this problem i was talking to the governor about? that is these two distinctly separate populations who feel targeted. i'm speaking to you from new york city where the commissioner has said he doesn't want any members of the nypd on patrol alone. everybody's got to grab a partner. i need not tell you that people have a fear, a well-founded fear of driving while black as the expression goes, especially with something like a busted taillight because what we have seen transpire. >> the first thing i would say is that anyone that would target a law enforcement official, that is absolutely the wrong thing to do. you are making the situation worse. i have been briefed by my staff on the rash of shootings that have taken place today targeting police officers. that is the wrong way to go. you are making things worse.

i think that that's really important for anyone out there that's angry to hear. you need to stop. nonviolence is the way how we are going to solve this. peaceful protests like what was happening in dallas last night before the shooting rampage took place, that's the way to move forward. on the other side, what you talked about, the black community and our sense that oftentimes in these traffic stops or these encounters, that the police are not being fair to black males, we need to look at what some of the best practices are. i will tell you that one of the things that has come out recently after the shootings in dallas today is that chief brown has really done a great job in community policing. he's helped bring down complaints. he's brought a lot of transparency when it comes to police shootings. and those sort of things, working with the community to make that type of thing happen will go a very long way. >> we certainly have heard that

same compliment for the chief from many other people in these last just about 24 hours. congressman, we are sorry for your district, sorry for your state. thank you very much for spending time with us on the air today. >> thank you, brian. >> another break for us. more of our coverage when we come back, including we will check in on this large and growing rally on a hot afternoon in atlanta, georgia. [burke] at farmers, we've seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. even a romantic rodent. [rickie] a romantic what? [squeaking noises] i'm a sucker for proposals. and we covered it, april twenty-sixth, 2014. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ i want my blood sugar i to stay in control.ck. so i asked about tresiba®. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪

tresiba® is a once-daily, long-acting insulin that lasts even longer than 24 hours. i want to trim my a1c. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ tresiba® provides powerful a1c reduction. releases slow and steady. works like your body's insulin. when my schedule changes... i want something that delivers. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ i can take tresiba® any time of day. so if i miss or delay a dose, i take it when i remember, as long as there's at least 8 hours between doses. once in use, it lasts 8 weeks without refrigeration... twice as long as lantus®, which lasts 4 weeks. tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. don't use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. don't share needles or insulin pens. don't reuse needles. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. check your blood sugar. low blood sugar can be serious and may be life-threatening. injection site reactions may occur.

tell your doctor about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. taking tzds with insulins, like tresiba®, may cause serious side effects like heart failure. your insulin dose shouldn't be changed without asking your doctor. get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing... fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue, or throat, dizziness, or confusion. ask your doctor if you're tresiba® ready. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ ♪ ♪ take on the unexpected with a car that could stop for you. nissan safety shield technologies,

available in the altima, sentra and maxima. now get 0% apr for up to 72 months, plus $500 bonus cash. ♪ myand a partly sunny mode.de. and an outside to inside mode. transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. ask for transitions xtractive lenses. extra protection from light... outdoors, indoors and in the car. [ park rides, music and crooooh!unds ] [ brakes screech ] when your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. excuse me, try this. but just one aleve can last 12 hours. tylenol and advil can quit after 6. [ cheering ] so live your whole day, not part... with 12 hour aleve.

look at these live pictures of this large and growing protest march in atlanta while i read the kind of online flyer that went out. it's time for a change, it's way overdue, naacp organized march for justice. it was posted for tonight, 6:00 p.m. and it reads, please share this on social media. come out and support as we march in unity. this is for any and all and everyone who wants a change, not just people of color. bring signs and water, wear comfortable clothes. will march from the civil rights center throughout downtown and back. so that's it. nothing more, nothing less. with us live is blaine alexander of our nbc station, wxia in atlanta. blaine, i understand you are walking along on this hot evening in atlanta with this march and everything from the air at least, we're above you, looks very peaceful.

>> reporter: well, i can tell you that right now, there are a good thousand people, possibly more, making their way through downtown atlanta and kind of coming to an end at centennial olympic park. i have to say, it is a very hot day here in atlanta, it's about 95 degrees. the crowd started at the center for civil and human rights, right here in the heart of downtown, and they stood outside for a good two hours just over two hours before the program itself actually began. you heard from a number of speakers and the crowd then started to move. of course, you saw signs along the way, black lives matter, the signs that were invoking the names of the two men who were killed by police officers and i have to mention one thing we saw. we saw people of all ages and all different races. one thing that was very interesting to hear in the midst of of course all of the chanting, there were a number of songs that were sung but at least five, six times from the podium before the march began itself, we heard organizers and

speakers say this is not dallas. what happened in dallas will not happen here, saying that atlanta is the birthplace, the cradle of the civil rights movement and really driving home the point we get our message across but will do so peacefully. i want to talk about police presence because of course what happened in dallas is a tremendous concern here in the city of atlanta. the mayor came out earlier today holding a press conference saying that security will be at top notch. as i stand here and look to my right, i see about 20, 25 georgia state patrol trooper cars just lining the street, just parked almost waiting in formation, blue lights flashing. that was the route that the crowd took just moments ago. then centennial olympic park is only about half a mile away from here so a half mile walk, there's another set of officers waiting there for the crowd that is snaking its way into centennial olympic park. meanwhile, while the crowd was just gathered, i do know from atlanta police that there were a number of plain-clothes

officers, a number of officers watching from different locations and a number of apd cars, atlanta police department cars. security is certainly a big concern but so far, no concerns, no issues, just seemingly very peaceful rally from what we have seen thus far. >> blaine raalexander, thank yo. let's hope it continues to be peaceful. we are at a pretty good vantage point above you. we can see the kind of settling core of this protest. we can see that a crowd-wide chant just went up. there is a core of the crowd, we have been seeing a little drone flying above the people, kind of the aviation food chain. the drone is between our helicopter shot and the ground. we do see centennial park filling up. it looked like about a half a mile or more at its height. blaine alexander, wxia tv in atlanta. we want to go to correspondent jacob rascone in mesquite, texas. the quite nice suburban home

with this gunman lived with his mom and where law enforcement has been going in and coming out all day with bags and boxes full of evidence. >> reporter: the latest update is that inside those bags of evidence, they found bomb making materials, rifles and ammunition and other things, including a journal where he kept note of his tactical little practices that he did. we talked to the neighbors up and down the street and one of them notably said that he remembers specifically johnson in his backyard creating obstacle courses where he would go through with his army uniform on, carrying his rifle. just practicing it looked like, doing various drills. he thought this was odd but he watched him do that regularly, he said, on and off for months since he moved in. another person, another neighbor down the street said that eight months ago or so, that several people were robbed on the block, among them johnson, and johnson went door to door knocking,

looking for he said his rifles which were stolen and a laptop as well. a lot of those who say that they knew him, knew that he had military experience. we have learned from his military records that he was an army reservist of six years, did two tours in afghanistan. he was the recipient of various military medals and ribbons as well. but most people who we talked to, the overwhelming majority did not know the johnson family, had never heard of them and did not recognize the picture that was showed them. we have learned in addition to being an army reservist and doing that for six years here in mesquite, he in fact grew up in mesquite and graduated from the local high school. this is his hometown. then to think that only 20 minutes from here, he would undertake of course what became that rampage and that's the latest from here. 20 minutes away from that scene, the home where the gunman lived. >> jacob in mesquite, texas.

look, viewers of this kind of thing know that a certain number of cliches settle into this coverage. the police were telling us starting last night this was a young man who kept to himself. we now learn from jacob this is a young man who was carrying out kind of quasi-military maneuvers in his yard. we learn from the mayor of dallas that he left behind written manifestos on shoot and move maneuvers and someone in that neighborhood is going to tell police they expected him to pop one day. that much is probably not in doubt. another break. we'll be right back. ♪ using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the framework... wire... and plants needed to give my shop... a face... no one will forget. see what the power of points can do for your business.

learn more at chase.com/ink because you can't beat zero heartburn! i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn see what the power of points can do for your business. ahhh the sweet taste of victory! prilosec otc. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. ♪ ♪

but we mean so much more. we mean how can we help? we mean what can we do? we mean it's our turn. to do our part. to serve you, for all you've done to serve us. ♪

we're back here from new york, monitoring a bunch of events. several protest marches, the largest of which seems to be in atlanta. peaceful gathering that the terminus of which for now is olympic centennial park which is kind of the core of the event but it's a hot afternoon.

a bunch of people, atlanta has some experience in this kind of thing, a bunch of people coming out to peacefully assemble. we should hasten to add, much as they did in dallas, texas last night. we have invited the reverend al sharpton to join us in our studios in new york. reverend, largely because we had a conversation in this very room with rudolph giuliani earlier today and respectfully, he said a lot of rudolph giuliani type things. i said to him that reasonable people with good hearts watch these social media videos that preceded this over this past week and it's absolutely heartbreaking. it's hard to get through them. i talked about the governor of minnesota's quote that this likely would not have happened to white motorists in the state of minnesota. mayor giuliani thought that was premature and he thought the governor may have spoken without knowing the evidence. he said a bunch of things but i

wanted to get you on record. where does this conversation stand as of tonight? >> well, i think that if you look at the data, we don't have to go by anyone's opinion including mine. the data says that the disproportionate amount of killings happen to blacks. the data. this is justice department data, whether it was under the bush administration or the obama administration. the data said about stop and frisk, that they stop blacks that walk more, they stop blacks that are motorists more. when we started the whole racial profiling question in the '90s, it was supported by data. i think rather than hour denying what has been established, how do we stop it and how do we give equal protection under the law. this is why we have had a vibrant protest movement. people are not hallucinating this. and i might add, these are multi-racial gatherings.

i think that people need to understand that if you have a society where you are 13% to 15% of the population but you are the majority of the people that are being killed by police under the same circumstances, because clearly, mr. sterling was not the only one with a gun in texas because it's a carry state, and you had a licensed gun in minnesota, but you don't have the same kind of reaction with whites, how do we deal with that, how do we penalize police when they are wrong just like citizens when they're wrong? that's how we come to try and resolve the situation rather than everyone go to their corner and find excuses for what's real. >> what do we do about these two populations, americans of color who fear that having a broken taillight can mark them for assassination, and americans who wear a badge to work fearing that their occupation can mark them for assassination? >> i think first, we need to understand the legitimacy of

both concerns and stop being in denial that blacks are not just making this up and there are policemen that are being killed. now, once we come to saying that we are not denying each other's legitimate grievance, though they are not equal, we shouldn't compare them, then you have a climate for discussion. again, it comes back to equal protection under the law. if i feel i'm going to be treated differently, if i feel that i'm going to be killed and no one's going to do anything about it, or that if a policeman operates outside the law, he's not going to be penalized or punished in any way, with the hundreds of shootings, no one has really been punished over the last couple years. i remember when we did the case in new york many years ago, we had to go outside the local apparatus, the federal government indicted, those police went to jail. it was instructive in new york

at that time. when people feel that it's an even playing field, it creates the atmosphere for training to change and other things but until we feel we are at risk, you are not going to have that atmosphere. at the same time, i think that's why many of us came forward and denounced what happened in dallas last night, because police should not feel that they are at risk and that the community's not going to stand against some horrific despicable act of violence. >> that's why i'm quite sure part of you is happy to see that on a 95 degrees afternoon, there's a peaceful protest going on in atlanta, georgia. because what happened in dallas last night should not have stopped that. >> absolutely. i talked to some of the people in the atlanta branch of action network who were going because i think the determination was to show we are going to continue to protest. the family in baton rouge that requested my coming down, we go do some things early next week but they wanted to show respect for the family of these policemen that lost their lives

because they understand their pain. i think at one level we must show respect and mourn the police deaths as we continue to mourn and raise a question of justice for sterling and for philando castile but we have to show we are not going to have a nonviolent legitimate movement for justice or in other areas as we did in orlando a couple weeks ago around gun control. these are as american as apple pie. america is supposed to embrace people's rights to stand up and advocate which is why i don't understand people that act as though we should not expect that people should express themselves. we should all denounce violence but express ourselves nonviolently. >> did governor dayton of minnesota get your attention when he went into detail about this case, when he called people's attention to the fact that there was no first aid rendered, a man who was left to bleed out in the front seat, the

woman with him who had the presence of mind to chronicle it on facebook live, cuffed, separated from the child in the back seat of the car, the other living witness to this in addition to the police officer, and incredible, you can't believe you're looking at a nonfiction event. >> absolutely. you know, it was very heartening to me to hear two governors finally say what many of us have been saying in the civil rights community for years, that there was a complete insensitivity, a complete not obeying what would be the guidelines and that would not have happened had they been white. when i say that i'm polarizing. he says it, it's accepted. that's fine. i accept that that's my role. i think it was heartening for many of us to see finally, people say now what are we going to do about it, now how do we bridge the gap, how do we heal it, because people are living under that this very moment. we've got to change.

we have no choice. >> this is why we wanted to have you on. a necessary part of the conversation. part of this coverage we have been dealing with all day. we appreciate it. good to see you. thank you for stopping by. again, there is a temptation at this point in the day as we approach the 7:00 p.m. hour to total up, to sum up what we have witnessed. we have witnessed two civilian deaths, both chronicled by social media. we have witnessed those two state governors of louisiana and minnesota come out and talk about it in quite candid terms. and then last night, the blatant assassination of five police officers, several others are wounded, in one of the most beautiful downtown sections of our country in dallas, texas. that's where we stand tonight. what goes on, what was not stopped by the gunfire last night, peaceful protest. that goes on in atlanta and

washington and new york and as the evening goes west with the time zones, in cities across this country. our coverage continues here, of course. for the top of the next hour, we will throw it to chris hayes in dallas, texas. chris? brian, thank you very much. good evening from dallas. i'm chris hayes. this is msnbc's continuing live coverage of the deadly ambush attacks on police in this city last night. not too far from where we are right now. as peaceful protests continue tonight in cities across the country like you are seeing, tonight in atlanta, last night here in dallas, a gunman opened fire on 12 officers, killing five of them. two civilians were also wounded in the attack. the events unfolded at the end of a protest march over the recent police shootings of african-american men in louisiana and minnesota. cell phone video from the scene last night captured the rapid barrage of gunfire as police rushed to the scene.