Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters the snipers fired "ambush style" upon the officers. He said police had a suspect cornered and were negotiating with him. Brown said 11 officers were shot, three of them fatally. Police later tweeted that a fourth officer had died.
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday while hundreds of people were gathered to protest fatal police shootings this week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota.
A Dallas Area Rapid Transit police officer
receives comfort at the Baylor University Hospital emergency room
entrance Thursday, July 7, 2016, in Dallas. Police say one rapid-transit
officer has been killed and three injured when gunfire erupted during a
protest in downtown Dallas over recent fatal shootings by police in
Louisiana and Minnesota. (Ting Shen/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
A day earlier, Alton Sterling was shot in Louisiana after being pinned to the pavement by two white officers. That, too, was captured on a cellphone video.
Video footage from the scene showed that protesters were marching along a street in downtown, about half a mile from City Hall, when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement saying he has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety director to offer "whatever assistance the City of Dallas needs at this time."
"In times like this we must remember — and emphasize — the importance of uniting as Americans," Abbott said.
The search for the gunman stretched throughout downtown, an area of hotels, restaurants, businesses and some residential apartments. The scene was chaotic, with helicopters hovering overhead and officers with automatic rifles on the street corners.
"Everyone just started running," Devante Odom, 21, told The Dallas Morning News. "We lost touch with two of our friends just trying to get out of there."
Carlos Harris, who lives downtown told the newspaper that the shooters "were strategic. It was tap tap pause. Tap tap pause."
The gunshots in Dallas came amid protests nationwide over the recent police shootings.
In midtown Manhattan, protesters first gathered in Union Square Park where they chanted "The people united, never be divided!" and "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now!"
A group of protesters then left the park and began marching up Fifth Avenue blocking traffic during the height of rush hour as police scrambled to keep up. Another group headed through Herald Square and Times Square where several arrests were reported.
___
Associated Press writer Ezra Kaplan in New York contributed to this report.
Bystanders run for cover after shots fired at a
Black Live Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton
Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile,
who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (Smiley
N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)
Dallas Police shield bystanders during a Black
Live Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Multiple
media outlets report that shots were fired Thursday night during a
Dallas protest over two recent fatal police shootings of black men.
(Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Protesters raise their arms as they pass a
restaurant while marching in the Manhattan borough of New York Thursday,
July 7, 2016, in the wake of the shooting deaths of Philando Castile
Wednesday night in Falcon Heights, Minn. after a traffic stop by St.
Anthony police, and the death of Alton Sterling, who was shot by Baton
Rouge police in Baton Rouge, La., while being detained earlier this
week. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Protesters march along 5th Ave. in the Manhattan
borough of New York Thursday, July 7, 2016, in the wake of the shooting
deaths of Philando Castile Wednesday night in Falcon Heights, Minn.
after a traffic stop by St. Anthony police, and the death of Alton
Sterling, who was shot by Baton Rouge police in Baton Rouge, La., while
being detained earlier this week. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Protesters march along 5th Ave. in the Manhattan
borough of New York Thursday, July 7, 2016, in the wake of the shooting
deaths of Philando Castile Wednesday night in Falcon Heights, Minn.
after a traffic stop by St. Anthony police, and the death of Alton
Sterling, who was shot by Baton Rouge police in Baton Rouge, La., while
being detained earlier this week. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Dallas Police respond after shots were fired at a
Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton
Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile,
who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (Smiley
N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)
Caiden Bryant, 5, middle, holds his mother
Markita Bryant's hand during a march from the White House to the Capitol
concerning police brutality, Thursday, July 7, 2016, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Paul Holston)
Dallas Police respond after shots were fired at a
Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton
Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile,
who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota. (Smiley
N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)