Four police officers killed, seven wounded in Dallas shooting protest

DALLAS - Four police officers were fatally shot and seven wounded by snipers in Dallas, authorities said, during one of many demonstrations held in cities across the United States against the second fatal police shooting of a black man in two days.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said in a statement two snipers in elevated positions shot 11 officers, killing three. Police said on Twitter later a fourth officer had died. At least one more was in surgery.

Brown also said later one suspect was cornered in a garage in downtown Dallas, although there was no word on the second reported sniper.

Television footage showed a heavy police presence, with officers taking cover behind vehicles on the street.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dallas law enforcement community and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit officers killed and injured this evening," Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement.

The shooting happened as largely peaceful protests unfolded around the United States after the shooting of Philando Castile, 32, by police near St. Paul, Minnesota, late on Wednesday. His girlfriend posted live video on the internet of the bloody scene minutes afterward, which was widely viewed.

Castile's death occurred within a day of the shooting of Alton Sterling, 37, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sterling was killed during an altercation with two white police officers. Graphic video of that incident caused an outcry on social media.

In Chicago, protesters shut down a stretch of the Dan Ryan Expressway - one of Chicago's main arteries - for about 10 minutes on Thursday.

In New York, several hundred protesters blocked traffic in Times Square in the heart of Manhattan, chanting "Hands up, don't shoot." More than a dozen arrests were made, the New York Police Department said.

In St. Paul, about a thousand people gathered outside the governor's mansion, chanting "Hey hey, ho ho, those killer cops have got to go," and other slogans.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton made a brief appearance in an attempt to quell the crowd. He said earlier a state investigation was already under way.

"Would this have happened if the driver and the passengers were white? I don't think it would have," Dayton told reporters, speaking of the Castile shooting.

"So I'm forced to confront that this kind of racism exists, and it's incumbent upon all of us to vow and ensure that it doesn't happen and doesn't continue to happen," he said.

State investigators later identified Minneapolis area police officer Jeronimo Yanez as the patrolman who fatally shot Castile during a traffic stop.

"RACIAL DISPARITIES" - OBAMA

U.S. President Barack Obama described the killings as tragedies.

"All of us as Americans should be troubled by these shootings, because these are not isolated incidents. They're symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system," he said after arriving in Poland for a NATO summit.

The use of force by police against African-Americans in cities from Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore and New York has sparked periodic and sometimes violent protests in the past two years and has spawned the Black Lives Matter movement.

Anger has intensified when the officers involved in such incidents have been acquitted in trials or not charged at all.

"I was already fuming when I woke up this morning over Baton Rouge, but for it to happen here again just pushed me right over the edge," said truck driver Thomas Michaels, 42, who was among the protesters in St. Paul.

"We live in a racist society where black lives don't matter, my kids lives don't matter and I'm sick of it. I don't even know if it can be fixed," he said.

Another protester, retail worker Tanya McDonald, 28, said: "What gets me is how many people are failing to see that this is happening almost every day. We're dying, we're being killed off by people hiding behind a badge and no one's doing anything to stop it."

The Washington Post said Castile was at least the 506th person and 123rd black American shot and killed by police so far in 2016, according to a database it has set up to track such deaths.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Chicago appeals for calm after police shooting video

CHICAGO, United States - Chicago's mayor appealed for calm as officials released a "chilling" video of the police shooting of a black teen Tuesday, hours after the white officer was charged with murder.

The graphic video is the latest in a string of police shootings caught on camera that have sparked mass -- and sometimes violent -- protests and engulfed the United States in a debate over racism and the use of deadly force by police.

"I understand people will be upset and will want to protest when they see this video," Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters.

"It is fine to be passionate, but it is essential that it remains peaceful."

Demonstrators gathered for an organized protest in Chicago, but there were only small scuffles with law enforcement.

The video comes a day after three men opened fire on protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota who were demonstrating in response to another fatal police shooting.

Five people were wounded, none seriously, and police arrested two suspects on Tuesday.

The Chicago dashcam video shows officer Jason Van Dyke open fire 16 times on Laquan McDonald, 17.

Shot from an approaching cruiser, it shows McDonald run down the middle of the street towards a cruiser, hitch up his pants and then start to walk away from Van Dyke and his partner.

His body then spins and strikes the pavement. McDonald lifts his head, moves an arm and then a cloud from another gunshot rises up from his chest as he lays in a fetal position.

He does not move as an officer enters the frame for just long enough to kick a knife away from his prone hand.

None of the officers approach McDonald to try to help him as he lay bleeding on the street, writhing once in the remaining minute of video.

Prosecutors said Van Dyke opened fire just 30 seconds after his cruiser pulled up to the scene and six seconds after stepping out of it.

"It is graphic, it is violent, it is chilling," Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez told reporters after charging Van Dyke with first degree murder.

"To watch a 17-year-old young man die in such a violent manner is deeply disturbing and I have absolutely no doubt this video will tear at the hearts of all Chicagoans."

McDonald -- who police said was holding a knife when he was shot and had earlier slashed the tires of a police cruiser -- made no threatening gestures to justify the use of deadly force, Alvarez said.

It was the first time a Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder for an on-duty fatality in more than 30 years, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said his officers would ensure people were allowed to protest peacefully but warned they would be "intolerant of criminal behavior."

"People have a right to be angry. People have a right to protest. People have a right to free speech. But they do not have a right to commit criminal acts," he told reporters.

McDonald's family has joined community leaders and city officials in appealing for peace.

"No one understands the anger more than us but if you choose to speak out, we urge you to be peaceful," they said in a statement released to local media.

"Don't resort to violence in Laquan's name. Let his legacy be better than that."

The city approved a $5 million settlement for McDonald's family in April and federal authorities are investigating the case.

Police had initially said McDonald was high on PCP, acting erratically and lunged at the officers with a knife.

- Minneapolis protest –

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, tensions were running high after Monday night's shooting at a Black Lives Matter demonstration over the police killing of another black man, 24-year-old Jamar Clark.

"White supremacists attacked the ?#?4thPrecinctShutDown in an act of domestic terrorism," the group wrote on its Facebook page. "We won't be intimidated."

Minneapolis police said Clark died in a struggle with police responding to a domestic disturbance on November 15.

His brother Eddie Sutton thanked demonstrators for their vigilance but asked them to suspend their protests, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

"In light of tonight's shootings, the family feels out of imminent concern for the safety of the occupiers, we must get the occupation of the Fourth Precinct ended and onto the next step," Sutton said.

Mayor Betsy Hodges praised police for swiftly two suspects in the "abhorrent shooting" and said the city is "sparing no efforts to bring any and all those responsible to justice."

Initial police reports indicated that three white men fired into the crowd of demonstrators at 10:45 pm Monday.

Minneapolis identified the two suspects arrested as a 23-year-old white man and a 32-year-old Hispanic -- and said a search was on for additional suspects.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Ferguson activists press ahead, undeterred by latest shooting

FERGUSON, Mo. - As the hunt for suspects in the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, extended into a third day, activists took the first steps on Saturday to force the mayor out of office while residents awaited signs of progress in the investigation.

A group called Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) said it is starting a petition to recall Mayor James Knowles. He is one of the few senior city officials still on the job after the police chief, a municipal judge and others resigned following a U.S. Department of Justice report March 4 depicting a Ferguson police force mired in racial bias.

An uneasy quiet prevailed in the St. Louis suburb, in contrast with the mayhem that erupted near midnight on Thursday when gunshot rang out during a protest rally, wounding a pair of officers.

The shooting sent a fresh jolt of tension through a city that has become a symbol of racial conflict since a black teenager was killed by a white police officer last August and a grand jury returned no criminal charges.

"There has been a lot of outrage here over the past seven months," Montague Simmons, executive director of OBS, explaining why activists were determined to press ahead with their demands. "We feel this could be a moment of transformation where people go from being outraged to being involved."

Antonio French, an alderman in nearby St. Louis, said the investigation would not distract from the issues exposed by the Department of Justice.

"Folks that were responsible for the culture that was described in the DoJ report, that allowed that culture to fester, they need to go," French told CNN.

Knowles, a Republican who was 31 when he was first elected in 2011 in a non-partisan election, said on Friday that it would be up to voters to remove him from the part-time job.

Residents will have 60 days to gather signatures from 15 percent of registered voters in the last mayoral election to prompt a special election, OBS said in the statement.

Steve Moore, owner of the Celebrity Soul Food Restaurant, said that when he moved to his current location, Knowles was one of his first customers, asking if there was anything the city could do to help.

"He's continuing to make changes and if people get behind him and hold him accountable he's a good leader for the city," said Moore. He added that he had lost about 80 percent of his business since the unrest began in August.

Some Ferguson residents said they were growing weary, especially after the latest spasm of violence, despite sympathy for protesters who have been out in force since the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

"It's been emotional here. We all want justice for Mike Brown, but we also have to heal," said Jerome Parker, 26, who lives in the area and works in a store. "I support the protests, but I need to make a living."

Parker also worries about the impact the shooting of the officers will have on the push for reforms in Ferguson.

Authorities had nothing new to add to the scant information disclosed about the manhunt for suspects in the police shootings.

A day earlier, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said investigators had dozens of leads and authorities had "a pretty good idea" where the gunshots had originated, but said no arrests were imminent. He had nothing to say about the kind of gun used, the shooter's motivation and any connection to the protesters.

In Thursday's shooting, a 41-year-old county police officer suffered a shoulder wound and a 32-year-old colleague from a nearby police department sustained a facial wound that left a bullet lodged near his ear. Both were treated and released from hospital.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com