On July 7, 2016, Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed and shot police officers in Dallas, Texas, killing five, injuring nine others, and wounding two civilians. Johnson, a 25-year-old Army Reserve Afghan War veteran, was angry over police shootings of black men. He shot the officers at the end of a protest against the recent killings by police of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.
Johnson fled to a building on the campus of El Centro College, where police killed him several hours later with a bomb attached to a remote-controlled bomb disposal robot. It was the first time U.S. law enforcement used a robot to kill a suspect.
The shooting was the deadliest incident for U.S. law enforcement since the September 11 attacks, surpassing two related March 2009 shootings in Oakland, California, and a November 2009 ambush shooting in Lakewood, Washington, each of which killed four police officers and the gunmen. It was the second-deadliest targeted attack of U.S. law enforcement officers in history; and the largest since the Young Brothers massacre of 1932 killed six officers in Missouri.
Background
2015 attack
Approximately one year before the shooting, a different attack was perpetrated against the Dallas Police Department (DPD) which The New York Times likened to the 2016 shooting, comparing their outcomes and the armament of the perpetrators. Several officers were involved in both incidents.
On June 13, 2015, at approximately 12:30 a.m., 35-year-old James Lance Boulware (October 26, 1979 – June 13, 2015) parked an armored van in front of DPD headquarters, which is located in the Cedars neighborhood. There, he opened fire using what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle. When police officers responded, Boulware rammed a Dallas Police patrol car and began shooting at officers from inside the van, striking the squad cars. He then fled in the van to nearby Hutchins, Texas (10 miles (16 km) south of Dallas), where he stopped in the parking lot of a Jack in the Box franchise. He remained in the van as a standoff with police ensued. Further gunfire was exchanged with the police while a perimeter was set up around the van, and a SWAT team was called in.
The driver identified himself to police as James Boulware, and claimed that the police had taken his son, accusing him of "being a terrorist". He then cut off communication with officers after making increasingly agitated and angry rants against police. The driver then threatened to blow the police up. The standoff continued as SWAT officers used a .50-caliber rifle to disable the engine block of the armored van. The standoff ended when a sniper fired additional rounds into the vehicle, killing the driver.
Police subsequently sent in robots that used water charges in an attempt to make entry into the vehicle, which succeeded in breaching the windshield. Police were then able to verify that the suspect was the only person in the vehicle, and that he was deceased. Police robots also used water charges to disable two sets of pipe bombs found in the van. Due to concerns that the van, which was identified as a purpose-built "Zombie Apocalypse Assault Vehicle and Troop Transport" with gun ports and armor-plated windows, was booby-trapped with explosives, police then destroyed the van in a controlled explosion. No police officers or civilians were injured in the incident. Four suspicious bags were found at the police headquarters, one of which contained pipe bombs. Another bag exploded while being moved by a police bomb disposal robot, and a third bag found under a police vehicle was detonated by an explosive ordnance disposal team. At 6:19 a.m., the headquarters building was confirmed clear of all explosives.
Dallas officers initially stated that up to four suspects were involved in the attack on their headquarters, but later said they believed only one person was involved and the reports of multiple suspects had resulted from him changing positions during the attack. The only clearly identified suspect communicating with police gave his name as James Boulware. News reports confirmed that Boulware was arrested in Paris, Texas, in 2013 after a report of family violence, and several firearms he owned were also confiscated. Boulware's family members then reported to authorities that they were concerned that he might go on a shooting spree after he threatened to kill all the adult members of his family and to shoot up some churches and schools. Boulware later made threats against a judge in his child custody case after he and the mother of his eleven-year-old son lost custody of their son to Boulware's mother, on the grounds that they were unfit for sole custody of the child.
July 2016 protests
On July 7, 2016, a protest took place in Dallas in response to the killings of two men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota, respectively, days before. The Dallas protest was one of several held across the United States on the night of July 7. Around 800 protesters were involved, and around 100 police officers were assigned to monitor the event. About 20 to 30 open-carry gun rights activists joined the protest march, some wearing gas masks, bulletproof vests, and fatigues, according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown.
Shootings
Most of the events happened in the streets and buildings around El Centro College, which forms a city block composed of multiple buildings. The block is bordered by Main Street on the south where the protest march was taking place; Lamar Street (now Botham Jean Blvd.) to the east from where Johnson initiated the shooting spree; and Elm Street to the north where Johnson eventually entered the college.
Main Street shootings
Around 8:58 p.m. Johnson parked his SUV sideways on Lamar Street, in front of the east entrance to the college, at Building A, and left the vehicle hazard lights blinking. At the time, the street had been cleared out in anticipation of the protest. Taking cover at street level, he began shooting at groups of police and protesters who were gathered on Main Street. Johnson was believed to have talked to three of the officers he shot before he first opened fire.
Three officers were killed in the initial gunfire, while at least three others and a civilian were injured. Eleven officers fired back. During the shooting, officers, unaware where the shots were coming from, scrambled to block intersections and were exposed to gunfire as a result.
Immediately afterwards, Johnson made his way north on Lamar Street, encountering Officer Brent Thompson along the way. A civilian recorded video of the encounter from his hotel balcony on Lamar Street. The video showed Johnson, clad in tactical clothing and armed with a rifle, loading his rifle and firing indiscriminately to draw officers near his position. When Thompson approached a corner, Johnson engaged him in a gunfight, forcing Thompson to take cover behind a concrete pillar. Johnson fired towards one side of the pillar, then ran over to the other side of the pillar to flank Thompson and shot him multiple times from behind, killing him.
El Centro College shootout
Johnson, injured during the firefight, attempted to enter the Lamar Street entrance of the college by shooting out the glass door but was unable to make his way in. He wounded two campus police officers who were near the doorway inside the building. Corporal Bryan Shaw was shot in the stomach underneath his bulletproof vest, while Officer John Abbott was hit by flying glass in the legs. Johnson then made his way to Elm Street where he shot out another glass door and entered the college unseen; he then made his way to Building B. Hearing the shattering glass, one of the injured campus officers, Corporal Shaw, made his way through the building and discovered a trail of blood leading to a stairwell. Accompanied by another police officer, Shaw entered the stairwell and was met with a hail of gunfire coming from above. Unable to see Johnson, he held his fire and retreated with the other officer.
Afterwards, Johnson made his way along a mezzanine between the school's second-floor dining area and third-floor library, but came onto a dead end of windows facing down onto Elm Street. He shot out multiple windows and fired repeatedly at officers on Elm Street. He hit Michael Smith, a police officer standing in front of a 7-Eleven, killing him and shattering the store-front glass. Officers began entering the college, sealing escape routes from the building, and evacuating students and teachers in the building, including those on a floor above Johnson, through a different stairwell.
Approaching Johnson on the second floor near the library, Dallas SWAT officers led by SWAT Sergeant Thomas Sible found him secured behind a corner firing intermittently. He was in an area filled with offices and the school's computer servers, with only two doors leading to where he was positioned, and a hallway about 30 feet (9.1 m) long separating him from SWAT members. At least 200 gunshots were believed to have been fired by Johnson and SWAT officers in that area during the standoff.
Standoff and shooter's death
Body camera video released in July 2021 pursuant to an open records request shows Senior Corporal Larry Gordon, a SWAT negotiator at the time, and other officers attempting for several hours to negotiate with Johnson. Officers interviewed by WFAA later said that they had sought to negotiate with Johnson because he was too heavily armed for the officers to risk charging him, but that they were under pressure and could not wait indefinitely because Johnson could pop out from behind a corner at any time to shoot an officer. The body camera footage shows Senior Corporal Matt Banes expressing concern that the bullets Johnson fired on the second floor were easily penetrating the drywall, making it impossible for the negotiators to find safe cover, and posing a risk to any students who might have remained in the building.
Johnson shouted "Black supremacy! Black liberation!" and began firing on police officers when they initially cornered him in the hallway. As the officers began asking Johnson questions, Johnson said he would speak to black police officers only and repeatedly referred to himself as "X". When the negotiator, Sr. Corporal Gordon, told Johnson that he was black, Johnson initially responded, "No way." Johnson told Sr. Corporal Gordon that he served overseas in the military. At one point, as negotiations deteriorated, Johnson told Sr. Corporal Gordon, "The talking is over. It's time for a revolution, brother. If you are my brother, turn your weapon on those behind you."
Johnson said that he had acted alone and was not part of any group. According to Chief Brown, Johnson appeared delusional during his standoff; "We had negotiated with him for about two hours, and he just basically lied to us, playing games, laughing at us, singing, asking how many did he get and that he wanted to kill some more." However, Sr. Corporal Gordon indicated in an interview that the shooter "wasn't delusional" and that "he was very lucid, seemed to be very sane and very in control".
Johnson repeatedly taunted police by goading them into the hallway and claiming to have planted bombs throughout the city. Later searches of Downtown Dallas found no evidence of explosives. After several hours of negotiations, police determined that Johnson could not be persuaded to surrender and that they could not "wait him out" any longer because he might charge officers in the narrow hallway at any moment, as he had done several times earlier. So, the team began considering several tactical plans to end the standoff.
Sr. Cpl. Banes said they considered using a .50 caliber rifle to fire at the shooter, which had been successful in the 2015 attack approximately one year earlier. However, in that case, the suspect had driven an armored truck into police headquarters and remained inside the vehicle. Johnson was holed up inside a populated college with thin drywall walls, so the tactical team deemed that approach too dangerous. They also considered rappelling down the building or attacking Johnson through the ceiling after opening it with explosives. Both options were ruled out due to the risks they might pose to the officers who would carry it out.
Ultimately the SWAT team arrived at the idea to use a bomb disposal remote control vehicle armed with about 1 pound (0.45 kilograms) of C-4 explosive. The plan was to move the robot to a point against a wall facing Johnson and then detonate the explosives. The device exploded as intended at approximately 2:30 a.m. the next morning, killing Johnson immediately. It was the first time that explosives strapped to a robot had been used in American domestic law enforcement. Although its arm sustained damage in the blast, the robot was still functional.