Suspect dead after Dallas Police HQ attack, standoff
DALLAS — A lone gunman who riddled Dallas police headquarters in a
"helter-skelter" rampage Saturday with an assault rifle was shot and
killed by a police sniper after fleeing in an armored van, police said.
"We
can now confirm that the susp in the van is deceased but unable to
confirm ID pending Med Ex. identification," the Dallas police department
said on Twitter.
Police
waited several hours to declare the suspect dead until they could
examine his getaway van, which they feared had been rigged with
explosives.
When bomb squads intentionally detonated suspected
ordnance inside the van, the vehicle caught fire, setting off live
rounds inside, police said. In addition, police found two more pipe
bombs in the van that required disposal.
No one was injured in the
attack, even though the gunman — angry over a child custody battle —
had raked the lobby and second floor of the headquarters from several
angles, shattering glass and sending officers scrambling. He also
planted pipe bombs packed with shrapnel at the headquarters, rammed a
police car and opened fire again before speeding off.
"We
are blessed that our officers survived this ordeal," Police Chief David
Brown told reporters. "There are bullet holes in squad cars where
officers were sitting, bullet holes in the lobby where staff was
sitting."
The police chief said the scene was "very helter-skelter for a long while," with the gunman changing magazines and moving to multiple firing positions.
Brown
said police were lucky to survive the shootings, some surviving by just
inches. One worker likely would have been killed had she not stepped
away from the front desk moments before the attack, he said.
"It raises the hair on the back of your neck pretty quickly just thinking what could have happened," Brown said.
GUNMAN ATTACKS DALLAS POLICE HEADQUARTERSMom of Dallas shooting suspect: He was schizophrenic | 01:01
The
mom of a man suspected of attacking the Dallas police headquarters says
her son was a sick man. According to her, he suffered from
schizophrenia.
VPC
Dallas
police have confirmed that the lone gunman involved in a shooting at
Dallas police headquarters has been killed. Cell phone video captured
the chaotic scene in the early morning hours on Saturday.
VPC
2 of 7
GUNMAN ATTACKS DALLAS POLICE HEADQUARTERSRaw: Van of Dallas police shooting suspect explodes | 01:00
The
armored van belonging to a lone gunman who attacked Dallas police
headquarters exploded in a ball of fire on Saturday afternoon. Bomb
squads intentionally detonated suspected bombs inside the van.
VPC
GUNMAN ATTACKS DALLAS POLICE HEADQUARTERSPolice: Suspect in attack on Dallas police HQ is dead | 00:50
The Dallas Police Department
confirmed that the suspect in an attack on the police headquarters was
killed by a sniper. The suspect has not been identified, but police say
he is a white male.
USA TODAY
According
to Dallas Police Chief David Brown, police headquarters has
transitioned from an active scene to a crime scene following an early
morning shooting. Brown also provided details on the shooting suspect.
VPC.
After
leading officers on a 10-mile chase, he pulled the vehicle into a
parking lot near a Jack in the Box restaurant in the town of Hutchins,
about 12 miles south of Dallas, Brown said.
After negotiations by
cellphone with the gunman broke down, a SWAT team sniper shot him
through the windshield. Police waited to approach the vehicle out of
concern that it was rigged with explosives.
Brown said police
called in a sniper after fearing that the gunman, who had fired
repeatedly at officers, would try again and could hit a nearby
neighborhood. Negotiations had also deteriorated into "rants" from the
gunman — who became "increasingly angry and threatening" — over a child
custody issue before talks broke off altogether, police said.
"He
expressed that he had C-4 (military grade explosives) on the van," Brown
said. "That's our biggest concern. We don't want to call his bluff."
Earlier, police had shot out the van's engine block to keep the suspect from fleeing again.
Police
said the heavily armed attacker — who called 911 in a "rant" after
opening fire on the building in downtown Dallas — had used an assault
weapon then a shotgun in an attempt to hit officers.
He said
officers obtained the gunman's cellphone number from his 911 call and
attempted to negotiate with him as the car was parked in Hutchins.
"He
got angry during negotiations, would hang up and stop talking, rant for
a while and not really negotiate," Brown said. "At some point,
negotiations just ceased on his end."
The police chief said at one point the suspect charged that police "took his child" and "accused him of being a terrorist."
The standoff prompted police to shut down nearby Interstate-45 in both directions.
A bomb squad robot was dispatched to examine the vehicle and found that there was only one person in it, Brown said.
Witnesses
initially reported up to three other suspects from the shooting at
headquarters, but Brown said they were seeing the lone gunman firing
from different locations.
Police also found duffel bags near
police vehicles at their headquarters. One of them included pipe bombs,
which exploded when a robot picked it up.
Brown said the suspect
identified himself as James Boulware, but police could not confirm that
until they obtain fingerprints and get identification from him. "He said
we took his child and we accused him of being a terrorist and that he
is going to blow us up," Brown said.
USA TODAY
Possible suspect in Dallas attack had criminal history
Authorities
cautioned that they have not confirmed the man is who he says he is.
But in 2013, police in Paris, Texas, said they arrested James Lance
Boulware after he obtained firearms, ammunition and body armor before
threatening to attack his family, churches and schools. Police said then
that he was taken into custody on two felony warrants from Dallas
County.
However, it appears the case against him was dismissed last year after he fulfilled requirements imposed on him by a court.
Police
also said a man named James Boulware has had previous interactions with
the police involving family violence. Investigators are following up on
those leads.
The suspect's father, Jim Boulware of Carrollton, told The Dallas Morning News that his son had blamed police for losing custody of his own child, who is a middle-school student.
"He
blames the police for taking his son away from him," Jim Boulware said.
"I tried to tell him that the police are just doing their job.
Brown
noted that police officers around the country have been threatened in
recent months, specifically referencing the December attacks that left
two officers dead in New York City. But the Dallas police had not
previously received threats, he said.
Doug Stanglin and Jessica Estepa reported from Washington, D.C.
Dallas police officers walk down Belleview Street one block away from police headquarters searching the area in Dallas. (Photo: Tony Gutierrez, AP)
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