'All they were doing was their jobs' says ex cop after deadly shooting in Dallas
It began with a peaceful protest against police brutality. It ended with five officers dead, seven injured and the shooter killed by a robot-delivered bomb.
On Friday, in the wake of the violence, people in Dallas are struggling with grief, anger and shock.
"Our officers want to say that we're hurting, and we need this community. We need citizens to show officers that they appreciate their sacrifice. And we are determined to not let [this shooter] steal this democracy from us," Dallas Police Chief David Brown told residents at a public gathering Friday morning.
Brown said that the gunman -- now identified as 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson -- told Dallas police he "wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers." Johnson, a U.S. army reservist who served for about nine months in Afghanistan, died following a standoff with police. Three suspects were also taken into custody, but police have not confirmed their involvement in the shooting.
When Rochelle Bilal heard about the shooting on Thursday, she was devastated. She's a former Philadelphia police officer and a co-founder of the National Coalition of Law Enforcement Officers for Justice, Reform and Accountability. She spoke to As It Happens guest host Susan Bonner.
"All they were doing was their jobs. And to be viciously taken down, and their life taken from them, is devastating," Bilal says.
"I just couldn't perceive that kind of behaviour ... that someone would literally do that to a police officer. Demonstrations, yes. Screaming and hollering at a police officer, yes. Being resistant, yes. But in my mind I just could not perceive that kind of behaviour happening," Bilal says.
Bilal served as a police officer for 27 years, and says she drew her weapon only twice during that time. She says she never killed anyone.
"We know that the majority of the police do a good job. But there are some that just don't. You can't shoot an unarmed black man running away from you in the back seven times and expect the community to say 'O.K., it's over.' This stuff begins to boil. People are frustrated and they are angry," Bilal says.
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She suspects the shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, was someone who wanted to act on that frustration in a violent way.
"That's a demented person. That's a confused, frustrated and angry young man," Bilal says.
Dominique Alexander was one of the organizer's of Thursday night's rally in Dallas, and the President of the Next Generation Action Group. He says some people are connecting the shooter's actions to Black Lives Matter, which is unhelpful and dangerous.
"[The shooter's] actions are not condoned in this movement. No matter what he said, whatever the pain he went through -- his actions do not represent the Black Lives Matter movement," Alexander said.
You can hear Alexander's conversation with As It Happens guest host Susan Bonner here:
