The gunman killed by Dallas PD following the deaths of five police officers and the wounding of a dozen others has been identified as Micah X. Johnson.
Johnson, a 25-year old former Army reservist who served in Afghanistan from November 2013 to July 2014, told hostage negotiators that he wanted to avenge the deaths of black men by killing white police officers.
While it is unclear if Johnson was active with Black Lives Matter, it has been indicated that he was involved with several different Black Panther organizations.
It is believed that Johnson was not the only shooter. Dallas PD have three yet to be identified people (other than they are 2 men and one woman) in custody in connection with the attack. Needless to say, it will be interesting to see if they are also involved with the Black Panthers or are active with Black Lives Matter.
While there are people who have been unjustly killed by police, it is equally unjust to murder police officers much less paint them all with the same brush which asserts they are out to wantonly kill African-Americans as was suggested by Diamond Reynolds, the girlfriend of Philando Castile who was killed by a police officer in Minnesota on Wednesday night. Prior to the Dallas massacre, Reynolds spoke at a protest outside the mansion of Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. Reynolds told the crowd she live streamed the events following the shooting “so the world would know these police are not here to protect and serve us. They are here to assassinate us. They are here to kill us. Because we are Black.”
Notwithstanding her overwhelming grief and the notwithstanding the very strong possibility that her boyfriend was unjustly killed, this is simply unjust and wrong on the part of Reynolds. It’s the sort of thinking that got five police officers killed in Dallas last night.
