5 Dallas Police Officers Killed in Deadliest Attack on Law Enforcement Since 9/11

Snipers Open Fire During Protest of Police Shootings

Snipers opened fire during a protest of police shootings in Dallas on Thursday night, killing five law enforcement officers and wounding at least seven others. 

The incident made it the deadliest day for police in the US since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. 

Three suspects were in custody Friday morning, while a fourth was killed in a standoff with police overnight. Their motives remained unclear, and Chief David Brown said police don’t know whether others are still at large. 

Protesters were peacefully marching through the city — ironically chanting, “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” — when the first shots rang out, according to this harrowing video posted by The Dallas Morning News: 

The protest was one of dozens around the nation in response to the fatal police shootings this week of two black men, Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota. 

Chief Brown said the suspects were “working together with rifles triangulated at elevated positions at different points in the downtown area, where the march ended up going,” according to The Washington Post. 

Video circulating on social media appeared to show one of the officers shot in the back at point blank range: 

Of the seven officers who were wounded, three are in critical condition, according to reports. 

President Barack Obama called it a “vicious, calculated, despicable attack on law enforcement.”