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In July 2016 Two Dozen Law Enforcement Officers in Dallas, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Other Locations Were Gunned Down, Leaving Eight Fallen Heroes

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In July 2016 Two Dozen Law Enforcement Officers in Dallas, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Other Locations Were Gunned Down, Leaving Eight Fallen Heroes Regional Organized Crime Information Center ROCIC SPECIAL RESEARCH REPORT In July 2016 two dozen law enforcement officers in Dallas, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and other locations were gunned down, leaving eight fallen heroes. ROCIC is a RISS Center A Proven Resource for Law Enforcement Regional Organized Crime Information Center Special Research Report • War on Cops Dallas Shootings ......................................... 3 Police Ambush Reports ............................ 25 Dallas Maps and Timeline .......................... 6 25th Annual Homicide Conference ........... 26 Baton Rouge Shootings ............................ 15 Protestors-Separatists-Extremists ............ 27 Baton Rouge Maps and Timeline ............. 16 How ROCIC Can Assist ............................ 35 Timeline of Police-Related Events ............ 22 Sources of Information ............................. 36 The Two Shooters .................................... 23 1 Regional Organized Crime Information Center Special Research Report • War on Cops (Text and photos compiled from news reports and law enforcement releases; ROCIC © 2016) Old Glory hanging from cranes; hundreds of small flags lining the roadway. Columns of police motorcycles roaring by. A sea of starched blue blouses and gray uniforms. Flowers placed upon flag-draped caskets. Gold braids, white gloves, and black ribbons on badges. A horse-drawn hearse. Honor guards snapping to attention. Stern salutes. Buglers playing taps. Tightly folded flags. Tears rolling down cheeks. Quiet sobbing. Solemn speeches by high officials. Widespread media coverage. End of watch. We’ve got your back. Eight funerals. Two memorial services. Candlelight vigils. A nation mourns. 2 Regional Organized Crime Information Center Special Research Report • War on Cops Friday, July 22, 2016 Law Enforcement Memorial Fund. It seemed as if war had been declared on cops. First a sniper in Dallas and then an active shooter in “People don’t understand our job,” said Dallas Senior Baton Rouge. Corporal William Tony Rodriguez. “It’s getting to where you can’t talk to anyone without them saying, “It has been a tough week physically and emotionally,” ‘Don’t shoot me!’ I mean, really? I’m trying to help said Senior Corporal Trevor Perez, one of a couple you. Just comply and we’ll be done and you’ll go dozen Dallas police officers and honor guard about your merry way and I’ll go about mine.” members to make the seven-hour trip to Baton Rouge to attend the funerals of Baton Rouge police officers, in this case that of Matthew Gerald. All the more tough because the corporal and his colleagues had just recently paid their respects at nearly a dozen similar funerals back in Texas. “We all know it can happen,” said Sr. Cpl. Perez. “But when you see it like this, happen to four co-workers wearing the same uniform as you are, once you have time to think about it, it hits you like a ton of bricks.” “It was just such an outpouring of support last week from around the country for us,” Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Sergeant said Dallas Police Senior Corporal William Hughes Schkennia Smith also made the trip to Baton Rouge. outside the Healing Place Church, which was filled She was the supervisor of Officer Brent Thompson, with more than 3,000 attendees, some from faraway killed in the Dallas ambush. Thompson had just states. “We felt we needed to pay it forward for married a fellow DART officer. He carried $40 in them.” cash every day in case he came across a family in need. At Christmastime, he roamed Walmart, Baton Rouge Police Officer Matthew Gerald, 41, buying toys for kids. Smith, an African-American, had been married and a father of two children. He said she considered quitting after the shootings but had served three tours in Iraq as a U.S. Marine. didn’t. She said she understands some of the outrage When he started training at the Baton Rouge people speak about, “but I don’t understand how Police Academy—from which he had graduated you can hate someone just because of their skin in March—he told his training officer, “I’ve been color.” serving my country, and now it’s time to serve my community.” His service was typical of all of the Sgt. Schkennia found a note on a DART patrol car recently fallen heroes, those killed and the two parked in the Baton Rouge hotel lot. She unfolded dozen others wounded, some grievously. “It is not it. In part, it read, “Thank you for your service. how these officers died that made them heroes, it Please know there are many who appreciate it. We’re is how they lived,” states the motto of the National praying for your safety.” 3 Regional Organized Crime Information Center Special Research Report • War on Cops Peaceful Protest Turns Deadly ran away, warning people. He screamed, “Run, run, It was Thurs., July 7, 2016, in downtown Dallas, active shooter, active shooter!” Widespread chaos Texas, just before 9 pm. Baptist minister the Rev. prevailed as shots rang out and echoed amongst Jeff Hood, organizer of a peaceful protest march the tall downtown buildings. Protestors ran in of several hundred, chatted with a police sergeant all directions, at times like a stampede, as officers about “how this had been a great night.” The march, shouted directions, shielded bystanders, and tried organized under the auspices of the Black Lives to maintain some order. Medical personnel arrived Matter movement to protest alleged police brutality, to attend wounded officers as police helicopters was winding down near Belo Park at Main and swooped overhead and officers, guns drawn, North Griffin Street. crouched behind cars. Dallas was one of many protests in major cities in Police tried to determine the source of the shooting. response to two controversial shootings. On July 5, At first, it was believed there were multiple rooftop 2016, Alton Sterling, 37, was shot during a struggle snipers, moving about and triangulating targets. with two Baton Rouge, La. Police Department This could be the beginning of a major terrorist officers. The victim was black and the officers are attack. Police chased 20 people and detained at white. The next day, a motorist, Philando Castile, least four carrying rifles and wearing camouflage 32, was shot by a police officer in St. Anthony, clothing as possible suspects. Minn. The victim was black; the officer is Hispanic. Both incidents were depicted widely on social media and highly publicized in the national media. One protestor in Dallas was heard to remark, “There were no issues whatsoever. People were taking pictures of the police officers. They were smiling. They were polite and giving me directions. People were calm. I saw no hostility. Zero hostility.” Dominique Alexander, who runs the Next Generation Action Network, the In Texas, gun owners can legally and openly carry organizational group affiliated with Black Lives long guns, including shotguns and rifles. The Matter, said he hadn’t expected anything unusual carrying of handguns is regulated in Texas and when the group hastily organized a march after the requires a state-issued permit, whether concealed shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. “We have or openly carried, but the carrying of rifles is largely them every now and again,” he said. unregulated and requires no permit. The so-called open carrying of rifles has become common at Then they heard shots fired. “Pow-pow-pow-pow- many demonstrations in Texas in recent years. pow!” Instinctively, the police sergeant talking to the minister ran toward the shots while the minister “When the shooting first happened, you had 4 Regional Organized Crime Information Center Special Research Report • War on Cops people in the crowd who were carrying long rifles and dressed in camouflage,” said Clay Jenkins, Dallas County’s chief executive and director of homeland security and emergency management. “And then the shooting happens, and those people begin to disperse and move quickly, and they have guns and they’re not police officers and there’s a shooting, and so one of the things that people would investigate quickly is did they have anything to do with whatever is happening.” the shootings, Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown The Dallas Police Department, through its Twitter said that once the protesters had started to march account, circulated a photo of a black man wearing through downtown Dallas, the shooter had driven a camouflage shirt and carrying a black rifle strung his vehicle, a black Chevrolet Tahoe, well ahead of over his shoulder. “This is one of our suspects. the group to prepare for the attack on police officers Please help us find him!” the police tweeted. who escorted the demonstrators. Just as social media quickly made him the most “You could easily see the march coming down wanted man in America, he was later exonerated the street they were walking, and he saw an by it. A Facebook video showed the pictured man opportunity with some high-perched positions, a turning his rifle over to police. couple of buildings in the pathway of the marchers, and decided to take the high ground and start One witness with a cellphone stayed on the streets, shooting right away,” Chief Brown said. “And we narrating the action over a live stream on Facebook, had to scramble to block intersections, which did watching as police took fire on the corner of Main expose our officers to this attack. And this suspect Street and North Lamar. The video was watched took advantage of that. And once he was in a high- by more than five million viewers. On the video, perched position, officers did not know where the several gunshots can be heard and police can be shots was coming from.” seen crouched behind their squad cars. “They are shooting right now and there is an officer down,” The sniper seemed to be well-prepared and employed said the witness.
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