BREAKING: Shots fired at BLM protest in downtown Dallas, TX

[Kevin]

CNN confirms 11 officers shot, 3 dead, one civilian is wounded. Believe there are two snipers, and that a bomb may have been planted.

This is terrorism.

No, it's revenge.

If so why should some random police officers pay for the unrelated acts of someone in their profession elsewhere?

[Gass3268]

Perviously declared person of interest, who was open carrying, turned himself in. Obviously doubtful he did anything.

1 other suspect in custody.

[Lyin' Steve]

I saw this coming a year ago, Kendrick Lamar and Killer Mike can only promote cop killing as a recourse to isolated incidents of police brutality so much, naive college students and professional agitators "activists" can only pull attention stunts screaming about their wildly overdramatized "lived experience of oppression" so much, and talking heads and editorial writers can only claim that "black people are afraid to leave their houses because they may get murdered" and "there are two classes of people in this country" and write about "black bodies" and "people who look like me" and all that crap so much, before someone actually takes it all seriously and starts shooting cops or white people thinking that they're fighting for freedom.

These two cops will die, Tumblr and other sources of online race hate will turn them into martyrs, CNN/Salon/HuffPo will bring agitators and, as Obama put it, "professional blacks", into the fold to "teach the controversy", and more will follow in their footsteps as a result.

Congratulations BLM, today you officially crossed the line and became associated with terrorism.

[Gass3268]

I saw this coming a year ago, Kendrick Lamar and Killer Mike can only promote cop killing as a recourse to isolated incidents of police brutality so much, naive college students and professional agitators "activists" can only pull attention stunts screaming about their wildly overdramatized "lived experience of oppression" so much, and talking heads and editorial writers can only claim that "black people are afraid to leave their houses because they may get murdered" and "there are two classes of people in this country" and write about "black bodies" and "people who look like me" and all that crap so much, before someone actually takes it all seriously and starts shooting cops or white people thinking that they're fighting for freedom.

These two cops will die, Tumblr and other sources of online race hate will turn them into martyrs, CNN/Salon/HuffPo will bring agitators and, as Obama put it, "professional blacks", into the fold to "teach the controversy", and more will follow in their footsteps as a result.

Congratulations BLM, today you officially crossed the line and became associated with terrorism.

You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. "BLM" didn't cross the line, two evil people took advantage of a police coordinated/sanctioned peaceful protest and vigil did. Think before you post next time.

[heatcharger]

I saw this coming a year ago, Kendrick Lamar and Killer Mike can only promote cop killing as a recourse to isolated incidents of police brutality so much, naive college students and professional agitators "activists" can only pull attention stunts screaming about their wildly overdramatized "lived experience of oppression" so much, and talking heads and editorial writers can only claim that "black people are afraid to leave their houses because they may get murdered" and "there are two classes of people in this country" and write about "black bodies" and "people who look like me" and all that crap so much, before someone actually takes it all seriously and starts shooting cops or white people thinking that they're fighting for freedom.

These two cops will die, Tumblr and other sources of online race hate will turn them into martyrs, CNN/Salon/HuffPo will bring agitators and, as Obama put it, "professional blacks", into the fold to "teach the controversy", and more will follow in their footsteps as a result.

Congratulations BLM, today you officially crossed the line and became associated with terrorism.

You're jumping to conclusions way too fast. We don't even know the race of the shooter as currently we only know it's a sniper situation. By immediately blaming BLM you're not any better than the fringe commentators who make blanket statements about cops or minorities.

[Penelope]

Congratulations BLM, today you officially crossed the line and became associated with terrorism.

Ugh, here we go, I was hoping we could at least wait until the bodies are cold until people start pointing fingers.

[SATW]

The media needs to realize it's playing with fire, and stop fanning the flames. Seriously. I'm freaking tired of them inflaming race relations so they get more ratings. I'm freaking tired of it.

The police need to realize that a lot of their police department cultures and biases make minorities feel unfairly targeted, and that they do indeed have a some dishonorable brutes who shouldn't be shielded and instead the police department should fire and prosecute them themselves.

BLM needs to understand that they're making things worse by demonizing the police and making every case into a bigger deal than it needs to be, making race relations out to be worse than they really are, which then makes things even worse, that playing the victim/oppression card doesn't help, emphasize to all their followers that violence isn't the answer, and need a solid policy platform and political movement organized around it instead of rage against the police or all white people and their privileges/microagressions/etc.

Great post! Amen, on all parts.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

If, indeed, the perpetrators are black guys who wanted revenge, it's a real shame how much this senseless massacre will set back the cause of racial justice.

[Mr. Reactionary]

You're jumping to conclusions way too fast.

[The Mikado]

CNN confirms 11 officers shot, 3 dead, one civilian is wounded. Believe there are two snipers, and that a bomb may have been planted.

This is terrorism.

No, it's revenge.

How are those exclusive? Terrorism is a tactic. Revenge is a motive.

How is this not terrorism, which is literally using violent ends to influence politics?

[Gass3268]

This tweet has since now been deleted.

[Kingpoleon]

You're jumping to conclusions way too fast.

[Lyin' Steve]

You're jumping to conclusions way too fast.

Given that the snipers are only shooting police officers, and the shooting happened at a BLM rally, where people were giving speeches saying things like "We are targets!  We made it to freedom and you're still killing us. You're still hanging us from trees" as quoted in the CNN article, it's a pretty obvious conclusion.

Ugh, here we go, I was hoping we could at least wait until the bodies are cold until people start pointing fingers.

Since when do we wait "until the bodies are cold" before condemning those responsible for a massacre?

If it turns out this was just an enormous coincidence and the two snipers had nothing to do with Black Lives Matter at all, I will retract all my posts and apologize.  But I think it's evident enough what happened that there's no need to wait around for a final confirmation.

[Taco Truck 🚚]

I'm not saying blame is equal. But it is to be shared. And murder is always wrong. Revenge is not justice.

Revenge has nothing to do with BLM.  Cops are PAID by the taxpayer to do a professional job.  BLM is a spontaneous protest movement.  They are not to blame.  It is incumbent upon the paid professionals to do their jobs correctly.

And the media. The damn media. The media needs to stop inflaming racial tensions to boost their damned ratings, they need to realize they're playing with fire and stop fanning the flames, whether their message is all BLM protestors are thugs or all cops are racist killers. Oh, and maybe, just maybe, something should be done about guns too, by the way.

The only problem with the media is they have under reported police murders for far too long.  Police murders are not increasing.  It is just ordinary people are doing the media's job and telling the world about the injustices.


One thing that must be implemented is much stricter gun control.  We need to make an environment where a gun is a rare thing... not the norm.  We put a man on the moon.  We can give cops a much better working environment.   This massacre in Dallas is third world.  I don't care what the cops allegedly did this should never happen in a civilized country, but the NRA has flooded the country with military weapons.

[Gass3268]

You're jumping to conclusions way too fast.

Given that the snipers are only shooting police officers, and the shooting happened at a BLM rally, where people were giving speeches saying things like "We are targets!  We made it to freedom and you're still killing us. You're still hanging us from trees" as quoted in the CNN article, it's a pretty obvious conclusion.

You are allowed to say things like that and not to be associated with evil murders.

[Bojack Horseman]

How is this a "national emergency" if it's going on only in Dallas?

[user12345]

How is this a "national emergency" if it's going on only in Dallas?

It will probably spur other people around the country to do the same.

[Sbane]

 Obviously this is horrible, but if any people are trying to blame this on black people, or even BLM in general, they are horrible pieces of sh**t. If BLM was to blame, we will find out in a few days, but I doubt it is the case. Of course, certain people just can't wait to blame BLM. That being said, 4 people are dead tonight who had nothing to do with the shootings of black people around the country by cops. That is horrendous. Police should not all be treated at the same. Although the police in this country need to re-evaluate whether they treat Blacks, and minorities in general, the same as everyone else, there is no justification for shooting random cops on the street. This is a much deeper problem in this country, which is definitely not black or white. These cops who shoot black people in the streets probably don't consider themselves to be racist. Then why is it still happening? And before we just blame the cops, maybe we should look at ourselves as a society as well!!!! Why is America so racist? And I am not just talking about white people here.

[Reginald]

Some reports that the suspects are in custody, but nothing very definitive at the moment.

Everything about this is just so depressing.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Obviously this is horrible, but if any people are trying to blame this on black people, or even BLM in general, they are horrible pieces of sh**t. If BLM was to blame, we will find out in a few days, but I doubt it is the case. Of course, certain people just can't wait to blame BLM. That being said, 4 people are dead tonight who had nothing to do with the shootings of black people around the country by cops. That is horrendous. Police should not all be treated at the same. Although the police in this country need to re-evaluate whether they treat Blacks, and minorities in general, the same as everyone else, there is no justification for shooting random cops on the street. This is a much deeper problem in this country, which is definitely not black or white. These cops who shoot black people in the streets probably don't consider themselves to be racist. Then why is it still happening? And before we just blame the cops, maybe we should look at ourselves at a society as well!!!!

Well, the problem is we are too quick to paint all people of a certain group with a broad brush. I'm guilty of this too.

[Sbane]

Obviously this is horrible, but if any people are trying to blame this on black people, or even BLM in general, they are horrible pieces of sh**t. If BLM was to blame, we will find out in a few days, but I doubt it is the case. Of course, certain people just can't wait to blame BLM. That being said, 4 people are dead tonight who had nothing to do with the shootings of black people around the country by cops. That is horrendous. Police should not all be treated at the same. Although the police in this country need to re-evaluate whether they treat Blacks, and minorities in general, the same as everyone else, there is no justification for shooting random cops on the street. This is a much deeper problem in this country, which is definitely not black or white. These cops who shoot black people in the streets probably don't consider themselves to be racist. Then why is it still happening? And before we just blame the cops, maybe we should look at ourselves at a society as well!!!!

Well, the problem is we are too quick to paint all people of a certain group with a broad brush. I'm guilty of this too.

We are all guilty of this, and we need to recognize this. The cops in our society are only a reflection of ourselves. I don't think cops are any more racist than your average American. It is not fair that they get their reputations tarnished when a shooting happens. We should look at how we can improve society in general, rather than blaming cops.

[Kingpoleon]

Fox says there are twelve police casualties.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I'm hearing reports now that the two snipers are in custody.

[SteveRogers]

Obviously this is horrible, but if any people are trying to blame this on black people, or even BLM in general, they are horrible pieces of sh**t. If BLM was to blame, we will find out in a few days, but I doubt it is the case. Of course, certain people just can't wait to blame BLM. That being said, 4 people are dead tonight who had nothing to do with the shootings of black people around the country by cops. That is horrendous. Police should not all be treated at the same. Although the police in this country need to re-evaluate whether they treat Blacks, and minorities in general, the same as everyone else, there is no justification for shooting random cops on the street. This is a much deeper problem in this country, which is definitely not black or white. These cops who shoot black people in the streets probably don't consider themselves to be racist. Then why is it still happening? And before we just blame the cops, maybe we should look at ourselves at a society as well!!!!

Well, the problem is we are too quick to paint all people of a certain group with a broad brush. I'm guilty of this too.

We are all guilty of this, and we need to recognize this. The cops in our society are only a reflection of ourselves. I don't think cops are any more racist than your average American. It is not fair that they get their reputations tarnished when a shooting happens. We should look at how we can improve society in general, rather than blaming cops.

This is largely true, but we are seeing increasing evidence that there is a systematic breakdown in the way that police are trained in the use of force. You may be right that the average cop is no more racist than the average American, but an average citizen who behaves in the way that some of these cops behave will be held accountable whereas a cop will not. As a private citizen, I can use deadly force to defend myself if reasonably necessary. If someone breaks into my house, I can shoot them. But I can't shoot someone who is running away from my house because that's murder. And I can't shoot a person I think (for racist or non-racist reasons) looks scary just because they reach towards their pocket. That's murder. But when cops miscalculate, they get no consequences. Public safety requires both that cops be trained to use deadly force in an instant when necessary, AND that they be required to face extreme consequences when they miscalculate, even when they're acting honestly.

None of that means that cops, as a class, should be demonized for the actions of a few bad actors, but as a society we can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to problems that are specific to the police as an institution. We've seen that a nervous, poorly-trained cop can be just as deadly as a corrupt racist cop. Something needs to change at a fundamental level. 

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

CNN reporting that a reporter from the Dallas Morning News is on the ground and heard some kind of explosion but there's no sign that it was an explosive that the suspect in the standoff claimed to have set.