Snipers kill five police officers in Dallas at Black Lives matter protest

rmstock · July 08, 2016, 11:07:06 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC5mSH_khno

Morning Mix
Snipers kill five police officers in Dallas, wound seven others during [Black Lives Matter] protest
By Tim Madigan, Michael E. Miller, Travis M. Andrews and Mark Berman
July 8 at 9:01 AM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/08/like-a-little-war-snipers-shoot-11-police-officers-during-dallas-protest-march-killing-five/

"DALLAS — At least five Dallas police officers were killed and seven
others wounded Thursday evening as a protest over recent police
shootings was interrupted by chaos. The Dallas police chief said an
attacker told authorities "he was upset about the recent police
shootings" and "wanted to kill white people, especially white officers."

After a peaceful march, downtown here suddenly exploded into violence
at around 9 p.m. local time when gunshots echoed through the streets,
sending protesters and police officers alike scattering for cover.
Authorities said two civilians were also injured during the shooting.

"We're hurting," David Brown, the Dallas police chief, said Friday
morning. "Our profession is hurting. Dallas officers are hurting. We
are heart broken."

Four Dallas Police officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer
were killed by "snipers" perched atop "elevated positions," officials
said.

Videos circulating on social media showed an individual with an
assault-style rifle shoot a police officer in the back at point-blank
range.

A gunman, believed to be the same shooter, then engaged in a violent,
three-hour standoff with SWAT officers, police said. Brown said the
attacker was killed when police detonated an explosive device near him
after a hostage negotiator spoke with him.

During this standoff, Brown said the suspect, who was not identified,
told police that "he was upset about Black Lives Matter" and angered by
the recent police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota that dominated
national news this week.

"He said he was upset about the recent police shootings," Brown said
during a Friday morning news conference. "The suspect said he was upset
at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people,
especially white officers."

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told CBS News that in addition to the dozen
officers shot, two other people also wounded by gunfire, though their
conditions were not immediately known.

"No words to describe the atrocity that happened to our city," Brown
said. "All I know is this must stop, this divisiveness between our
police and our citizens."

Three other suspects were also in custody, Brown said during a press
conference before the standoff's end. Rawlings said one of those held
was an African American woman.

While Brown said the suspect in the standoff told authorities that "The
end is coming" and spoke about bombs being placed downtown, no
explosives had been found by Friday morning.

During an earlier press conference, Brown said he wasn't sure if there
were more suspects at large. "We still don't have a complete comfort
level that we have all the suspects," he said.

[Minn. governor says race played role in fatal police shooting during
traffic stop]

The mass shooting — the worst attack on law enforcement since the Sept.
11, 2001, terror attacks — comes amid intense scrutiny of police
officers and how they use deadly force, an issue that has reemerged
into the national consciousness this week after videos circulated of a
fatal shooting in Baton Rouge, La., and the aftermath of another in
Minnesota.

Brown said he believed the four suspects were "working together with
rifles triangulated at elevated positions at different points in the
downtown area, where the march ended up going."

He said it was unclear if the suspects were somehow connected to the
protest, but added that detectives were investigating that possibility.

At a press conference from Warsaw, Poland, Friday morning, President
Obama called the attack "vicious, calculated and despicable."

"I believe I speak for every single American when I say we are
horrified over these events," Obama said.

President Obama gave remarks on the Dallas shooting that has left at
least five police officers dead, while at a summit in Warsaw, Poland,
on July 8. (Reuters)

[World asks: "What is going on in America?']

He called on Americans to "profess our profound gratitude to the men
and women in blue" and to remember the victims, in particular.

"Today, our focus is on the victims and their families," Obama said.
"They are heartbroken. The entire city of Dallas is grieving. Police
across America, a tight-knit family, feels this loss to their core."

Amidst protests, police heroics

On a night that began with a protest criticizing police, the chief
praised the heroism of his officers.

"I've never been more proud of [being] a police officer and being a
part of this great, noble profession, seeing the courage, the
professionalism and just grit to stay on scene, looking for suspects,
knowing that we are vulnerable," he said during the press conference.
Brown said officers had run toward gunfire to help one another and
civilians.

Several people said officers helped save them, including one man who
said an officer pushed him out of the way as shooting began. Bystanders
captured footage of cops dragging fallen comrades out of the line of
fire. Cameras also captured police officers choking back tears for
their fallen colleagues. One officer appeared to brace himself against
his SUV as grief overcame him.

"So many stories of great courage," Brown said.

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)

The mayor Rawlings said it was "a heartbreaking morning" and called for
unity.

"We as a city, we as a country, must come together and lock arms and
heal the wounds we all feel," he said.

[Americans began the week celebrating freedom. Now they're shocked and
mourning once more.]

The incident came on a night when protests raged nationwide over the
fatal police-involved shootings of two black men earlier in the week.

On Tuesday morning, Alton Sterling was fatally shot by police in Baton
Rouge. Less than 48 hours later, Philando Castile was fatally shot by
an officer in Minnesota. Video footage of the killings or their
aftermath spread quickly on social media, spurring widespread anger and
renewing a debate over race and police departments' use of deadly force.

As in other cities across the country, protesters gathered in downtown
Dallas just before 7 p.m. for a march from Belo Garden Park to the Old
Red Courthouse.

For two hours, roughly 800 protesters marched peacefully, chanting and
waiving signs. Their route took them past JFK Memorial Plaza, which
marks President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination.

Just a few blocks from the spot of the infamous shooting, another was
about to begin.

'That's where the war began'

As dusk settled over the city, bullets suddenly began flying, the crack
of high-powered ammunition cannoning off of skyscrapers and across
downtown Dallas.

Terrified protesters scattered in all directions as startled cops gazed
up in search of the origin of the shots.

[Dallas shooting deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since 9/11]

Lynn Mays said he was standing on Lamar Street when the shooting began.

"All of a sudden we started hearing gunshots out of nowhere," he told
the Dallas Morning News.
https://twitter.com/Calebjdowns/status/751259953487343616
"At first we couldn't identify it because we
weren't expecting it, then we started hearing more, rapid fire. One
police officer who was standing there pushed me out the way because it
was coming our direction ... next thing you know we heard 'officer down.'"

Undercover and uniformed police officers started running around the
corner and "froze," Mays said. "Police officers started shooting in one
direction, and whoever was shooting started shooting back.

"And that's where the war began."

The shooting appears to have been heaviest around El Centro College,
near Market and Main Street.

Protesters who had come to speak out against violence by police now
suddenly found themselves in the crosshairs of violence apparently
aimed at police.

Renee Sifflet, a mother of three teenagers who attended the rally and
march, said she lost track of one of her children during the ensuing
chaos.

"I brought them here for a positive experience, something they could
say they were part of when they're older, " she told the Dallas Morning
News. "Then it turned negative."

['This is one of our suspects': Dallas police tweet picture of wrong
man after ambush]

Robert Rodriguez, 30, was passing through Dallas with his 14-year-old
son. They weren't part of the protest but happened to be passing by it
with the windows down when they heard four shots ring out. There was a
pause and then a continuous volley for many seconds.

"Like a little war," he told The Washington Post.

Bullets sparked off of DART train tracks and smacked into walls of
buildings behind their Yukon Denali, Rodriguez said. He circled the
block and saw gunman dressed in camouflage, firing a long gun from his
hip at officers. Officers crouched by a building returned fire. One cop
car screeched to a halt and its driver started firing as he stepped out.

The gunman didn't appear to be hit because he continued to run and
fire, Rodriguez said. He then turned another corner away from gun
battle.

"It was very intense," he said. "My only thought was to get somewhere
safe and get my son out of the line of fire."

He said he saw a wounded female officer walking down the street holding
her arm, being supported by another officer.

Stanley Brown, 19, was downtown near El Centro when the shooting began.

"You could hear the bullets whizzing by our car and hitting the
buildings. A bullet missed our car by six feet," he told The Post. "We
pulled into a garage and got out of our car and the bullets started
hitting the walls of the garage."

Brown ran around the corner of a building to take cover, only to see a
gunman running up the street.

"He was ducking and dodging and when police approached he ducked into
El Centro," he said. He saw a SWAT team rush the college building,
enabling five people to escape.

"An officer looked back at us and yelled that it was a terrorist
attack," he said.

At least one protester, identified as 37-year-old Shetamia Taylor, was
shot at the rally.

https://twitter.com/HaggertyCBS11/status/751294198792482816

Her sister said Taylor was at the protests Thursday night with her four
sons. Theresa Williams told the AP that when the shooting began, Taylor
threw herself over her sons. She was shot in the calf and underwent
surgery early Friday. Williams also said two of Taylor's sons became
separated from their mother in the stampede for safety but were later
reunited.

While most protesters ran for cover, a few turned their cameras from
the demonstration to the chaos unfolding around them.

One man, identified as Michael Kevin, got so close to the El Centro
parking garage, where much of the shooting took place, that officers
ordered him to move back.

'It looked like an execution'

In perhaps the most shocking footage to emerge on the horrific and
highly televised night, a gunman was filmed sneaking up behind a police
officer and shooting the cop several times in the back at point-blank
range. It is unclear if the officer survived.

"It looked like an execution honestly," Ismael DeJesus, who took the
video from an apartment building, told CNN. DeJesus said he thought the
gunman, who carried an assault-style rifle, was wearing body armor as
he appeared to get shot and keep going.

https://twitter.com/MatthewKeysLive/status/751280502359793664

The gunman then holed up inside of El Centro's garage, according to
police. Dozens of cop cars surrounded the building as officers crouched
behind their vehicles.

As he engaged in a shootout with officers, police took three other
suspects into custody.

Two suspects were seen climbing into a black Mercedes with a camouflage
bag before speeding off. They were apprehended in the Oak Cliff area, a
suburb of Dallas.

The third suspect, a woman, was taken into custody near the El Centro
garage.

[During deadly Dallas shooting, confusion swirled around armed man
carrying a rifle]

Chief Brown said the three suspects were being interrogated but, as of
12:30 a.m. local time, had not provided information on the motive
behind the brazen attack.

Even as Brown spoke to reporters, the fourth suspect was engaged in a
standoff with police.

At around 1:26 a.m., there was "a loud boom and what sounded like
shattering glass" near El Centro, according to Dallas Morning News
reporter Robert Wilonsky.

https://twitter.com/RobertWilonsky/status/751301318388559873

At around 4 a.m. local time, CNN reported that the gunman holed up
inside the garage was dead. Police have not yet confirmed the death and
details remained murky Friday morning.

'Our hearts are broken'

As the violence appeared to be winding down early Friday morning, the
toll of the carnage was only beginning to emerge.

One thing that was clear, however, was the high cost on law enforcement.

Only one of the killed police officers had been identified as of early
Friday morning. DART identified its fallen officer as 43-year-old Brent
Thompson. He joined in 2009 and was the first DART officer killed in
the line of duty in the agency's 27-year history, according to a tweet.

"Brent was a great officer," DART Chief James Spiller told MSNBC. "He
has served admirably."

https://twitter.com/5NEWSGarrett/status/751322511518736385

Thompson had just married a fellow DART officer two weeks earlier, CNN
reported.

"As you can imagine, our hearts are broken," the agency said in a
statement. "We are grateful to report the three other DART police
officers shot during the protest are expected to recover from their
injuries."

Their names are Omar Cannon, 44, Misty McBride, 32, and Jesus Retana,
39.

Tela Strickland, McBride's 14-year-old cousin, reacted with "shock" to
news that her relative had been shot in the stomach and shoulder.

"I am so tired of seeing shootings in the news," she told The Post.
"When you see your own family in the news, it's heart breaking."

https://twitter.com/dartmedia/status/751310085213741056

Dallas Police did not immediately identify its officers injured or
killed in the attack.

Three of the department's officers were in critical condition Friday
morning, the Morning News reported.

Family members and friends of victims took to social media to share
updates and prayers.

Many said they were proud of the dead or injured officers.

As the crisis unfolded Thursday night, Facebook activated its safety
check feature, allowing people in the area of the shootings to let
friends and family members know they were safe.

Cities across the country also expressed support for the victims.

Cleveland's Terminal Tower was bathed in blue light to support the
fallen officers.

As dawn broke over Dallas Friday morning, the city remained in mourning.

Outside Baylor University Hospital, doctors, nurses and medical
personnel lined up outside the hospital around 6 a.m. local time to
honor and shield from public view two police officers whose bodies were
led out on gurneys, CNN reported. Beyond them, a line of police
officers saluted their fallen colleagues.

Much of downtown Dallas would remain blocked off on Friday, Mayor
Rawlings said during the press conference. He asked citizens to allow
police officers to do their jobs.

"We've got to support our police force and [let them] do their job," he
said, "to make sure we get to the bottom and the root cause of all of
this."

Miller, Andrews and Berman reported from Washington. Greg Jaffe
contributed reporting from Warsaw. Katie Mettler, Ben Guarino and Mary
Hui contributed reporting from Washington.

Read more:

Two years after Ferguson, fatal shootings by police are up

The Post's database of fatal police shootings

The Dallas sniper attack was the deadliest event for police since 9/11

4.4K Comments

Michael E. Miller is a foreign affairs reporter for The Washington
Post. He writes for the Morning Mix news blog.  Follow @MikeMillerDC
Travis M. Andrews is a reporter for The Washington Post's Morning Mix.
Previously he was an editor for Southern Living and a pop culture and
tech contributor for Mashable.  Follow @travismandrews
Mark Berman covers national news for The Washington Post and anchors
Post Nation, a destination for breaking news and stories from around
the country.  Follow @markberman "

rmstock · July 08, 2016, 12:44:18 PM

Dallas Police Shooting | Gunman Wanted to Kill White Cops
by ABC News , Published on Jul 8, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn3wlJ-c-0s

rmstock · July 08, 2016, 01:22:06 PM

Michael Bautista captured part of downtown Dallas shooting during Facebook Live
by The Dallas Morning News , Published on Jul 7, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnqZadaY-yE
"Michael Bautista captured part of the downtown Dallas shooting on
video. He saw one officer down, dragged into vehicle and taken away.
The video was broadcast during a Facebook Live post. Video used with
permission."

rmstock · July 08, 2016, 01:31:18 PM

Robot Killed Dallas Police Gunman Not Suicide
by The Alex Jones Channel , Published on Jul 8, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9C_tYn890g

yankeedoodle · July 08, 2016, 01:40:02 PM

Did robot climb the stairs, or did it take the elevator? Or, did the sniper come down from his perch, to negotiate with the robot? Or, does the robot have rifle and scope to shoot-down a sniper from his perch?

Constantly hearing reports about the "gunman" being killed. ONE gunman. Also, reports about him saying he wanted to "kill whites, white cops."

What about the other three shooters - one a woman - that reportedly were captured?

7-7-16(1+6=7) 7-7-7 Any significance?

rmstock · July 08, 2016, 01:56:09 PM

The shooter is Micah X. Johnson (Xavier) a former U.S. Army reservist from Mesquite, Texas
Micah X. Johnson Photos: Pictures of Dallas Cop Killer
Published 12:02 pm EDT, July 8, 2016 Updated 12:32 pm EDT, July 8, 2016
http://heavy.com/news/2016/07/micah-johnson-dallas-cop-killer-us-army-facebook-page-photos-pictures-family/

First Picture Of Dallas Shooter Micah X. Johnson Emerges
by Tyler Durden Jul 8, 2016 10:31 AM
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-08/dallas-shooter-upset-about-black-lives-matter-wanted-kill-white-people-especially-wh
"Now that the Dallas shooting tragedy is officially over, attention
turns to what the motive behind the murderous rampage may have been.

And while the Dallas police chief said during a press conference that
while talking with police negotiators, the suspect said he was not
affiliated with any group, as we reported moments ago the "Black Power
Political Organization" took responsibility for the killings, calling
the shooters "our assassins." It remains to be confirmed if that is
indeed the case.

However, something else that has emerged and is now confirmed regarding
Thursday night's attack, which the police described as a carefully
planned and executed ambush, is that according to Dallas Police Chief
David Brown, who said that during the exchange of gunfire with the
suspect, he made the following announcement: "The suspect said he was
upset about Black Lives Matter," said Brown, who is black. "He said he
was upset about the recent police shootings. The suspect said he was
upset at white people. The suspect stated that he wanted to kill white
people, especially white officers."
[ ... ]"

Black Power Political Organization Takes Responsibilty For Murdering 5 Dallas Cops
by Tyler Durden Jul 8, 2016 9:53 AM
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-08/black-power-political-organization-takes-responsibilty-murdering-5-dallas-cops

"Thursday night saw the biggest loss of life for America's law
enforcement since 9/11. Last night five police officers were killed,
six officers were wounded and two civilians were shot according to the
most recent reports.

The Black Power Political Organization has taken responsibility for the
attack according screen shots of a Facebook post. The group's Facebook
account has since been taken down.

What the post says:

"Sniper Assassins Take Down Five Police Officers! And More Will Be
Assassinated In The Coming Days! Do You Like The Work Of Our Assassins?
Get Your Own Sniper Rifle And Join Our Thousands Of Sniper Assassins
Worldwide In The Fight Against Oppression!"

The movement claims responsibility for the sniper attacks we heard
about last night. The call for more to join "our thousands of sniper
assassins" is highly alarming. As the US and other developed nations
slide further into anarchy, one may wonder how many more violent groups
will form and mobilize following oppression from leaders.

The events last evening can be summed in one sentence from a young man
featured in a video shared by Fusion last night:

https://twitter.com/Fusion/status/751221268024692736

"

rmstock · July 08, 2016, 02:17:01 PM

The Dallas Police Department was one of the last remaining larger
city's where the brain-dead militarization of Police had not yet been
implemented. Chief Brown was proud to say so, as they clearly were
best of Police class. Someone needed a very nasty shooting badly, but
at the same time wanted to have the very useful Black Lives Matter
group not exposed to the Dallas 7/7/16 shooting. So enter a group like
BPPO (Black Power Political Organization) , which was expendable ...
Someone at Infowars will soon become extremely pissed about this :

Ognir · July 08, 2016, 02:30:30 PM

The video of th fella running out and shooting guy behind pillar and the spark-works after seems a little over-kill

yankeedoodle · July 08, 2016, 02:46:36 PM

Quote from: Ognir on July 08, 2016, 02:30:30 PM
The video of th fella running out and shooting guy behind pillar and the spark-works after seems a little over-kill

Agree 100%. Glad to know somebody else noticed the sparks, and thought "that don't look right."

Remember seeing years ago a very cheap jungle combat movie, with a lot of shooting and sparks flying, seemingly off the vegetation. Laughed about it then. Spark-machine technology hasn't improved, apparently.

yankeedoodle · July 08, 2016, 04:25:06 PM

QuoteRobot Killed Dallas Police Gunman Not Suicide
The Alex Jones Channel

Glad to see that All-excrement Jones has developed a new line of business: peddling robots. Surely, now that All-excrement has given his stamp of approval - robot killed shooter, and saved lives of cops - every po-lease department in America, and soon the world, will have to have this marvelous robot.

Christopher Marlowe · July 09, 2016, 03:09:35 PM

I think it is yet another HOAX. Dallas was a HOAX. Baton Rouge was a hoax. and the Minnesota shooting was a pathetically bad hoax.

Ognir · July 09, 2016, 03:46:24 PM

Lack of EMTs,
no photos yet again
cover for hillary (blair)
cover for cops for killing two black fellas this week

I'm going for a hoax

rmstock · July 09, 2016, 07:36:25 PM

Quote from: yankeedoodle on July 08, 2016, 04:25:06 PM
QuoteRobot Killed Dallas Police Gunman Not Suicide
The Alex Jones Channel

Glad to see that All-excrement Jones has developed a new line of business: peddling robots. Surely, now that All-excrement has given his stamp of approval - robot killed shooter, and saved lives of cops - every po-lease department in America, and soon the world, will have to have this marvelous robot.

Did time stand still in the America ? Here's a oldie 80s movie featuring the same Police Robot :

Code of Silence (1985)
R | 1h 41min | Action, Crime, Drama | 3 May 1985 (USA)
Director: Andrew Davis
Writers: Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack and 3 more credits
Stars: Chuck Norris, Henry Silva, Bert Remsen
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 3 May 1985 (USA)
Also Known As: Sale temps pour un flic
Filming Locations: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Production Co: Orion Pictures
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088936/

Here's a more accurate attempt to what (Is/has been?) going on in TX :

Texas Killing Fields (2011)
R | 1h 45min | Crime, Drama, History | 1 December 2011 (Netherlands)
Director: Ami Canaan Mann
Writer: Don Ferrarone (as Donald F. Ferrarone)
Stars: Sam Worthington, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 1 December 2011 (Netherlands)
Also Known As: The Fields
Filming Locations: Amite, Louisiana, USA
Production Co: Anchor Bay Films, Blue Light, Infinity Media
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389127/

Be sure to watch the version of 2012 or earlier of this one. Later
editions have cut out entire sections of screen writing, and even
seriously altered crime scenes. As this movie is based on actual events
in Texas, this behavior suggests thats there is more to this than meets
the eye. As a matter a fact, how many of these so-called `False flags' of
say the last 16 years have been filmed and actually have been displayed
on the movie-screens or published on DVD ?

rmstock · July 11, 2016, 07:41:04 AM

Business > Law
Facebook 'glitch' that deleted the Philando Castile shooting vid: It was the police – sources
Footage vanished on command, not by a tech gremlin
8 Jul 2016 at 05:31, Iain Thomson 134 Comments
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/08/castile_shooting_police_deletion/

Slain ... Philando Castile with his mother Valerie Castile

"The deadly shooting of 32-year-old Philando Castile by a cop during a
routine traffic stop in Minnesota on Wednesday just got murkier.

Multiple sources have told The Register that police removed video
footage of Castile's death from Facebook, potentially tampering with
evidence.

Castile, his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old
daughter were pulled over by police in the Falcon Heights suburb of
Minneapolis for a broken tail light. Using her cellphone and Facebook
Live, Reynolds web-streamed footage of her dying boyfriend after he was
shot by a police officer as he reached for his ID in his wallet. The
video was mysteriously removed from her Facebook profile as it went
viral across the internet.

On Thursday, Facebook said a "technical glitch" caused the recording to
be pulled from its social network. However, Reynolds claimed officers
seized her phone and took over her Facebook account to delete the
evidence.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the event have tonight confirmed to
The Register that someone – highly suspected to be the city's police –
used her phone to remove her recording from public view shortly after
the shooting. This was no technical glitch.

That vanishing act prevented anyone from sharing and watching the vid,
until the material was restored about an hour later with a graphic
content warning. In the meantime, copies of the footage spread across
Twitter and YouTube.

"They took my phone. They took over my Facebook. They took everything I
had at the time," said Reynolds in an emotional press conference after
she was arrested by police.

"Everyone who shared my video, they don't want you guys to be a part of
this. They don't want us to support each other. They're going to tamper
with evidence. This is not right, this is not acceptable. A police
officer should not to be able to gun a man down for no reason."

A spokesperson for the Falcon Heights police department was not
available for comment.

This isn't going away

At a press conference on Thursday, the US state's Democratic governor
Mark Dayton said he was appalled by the killing, adding that had
Castile been white he would still be alive today. There was a troubling
pattern of racism in the police force, he said, and this would be
investigated.

"I can't say how shocked I am and deeply, deeply offended that this
would happen to somebody in Minnesota," Dayton said grimly. "No one
should be shot in Minnesota for a taillight being out of function. No
one should be killed in Minnesota while seated in their car."

Reynolds said she was held in a police station until 3am on Thursday
before her boyfriend's death was confirmed, and two hours later she was
dropped off at home by a squad car.

"The images we've seen this week are graphic and heartbreaking, and
they shine a light on the fear that millions of members of our
community live with every day," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"While I hope we never have to see another video like Diamond's, it
reminds us why coming together to build a more open and connected world
is so important -- and how far we still have to go."

Who watches the watchmen? We do

The growth of cellphone video recording has been a potent force in
exposing some of the worst excesses of criminals and those who are
supposed to uphold the law.

The savage beating of Rodney King, caught on a home video camera in
1991, sparked the LA riots, but this was just a precursor to the spread
of images and video captured by mobile phone cameras.

In the past few years we've seen police officers and crooks being
caught on cellphones and home security cams breaking the law. The
recordings have proved to be much more reliable as evidence than
eyewitness accounts of serious wrongdoing.

Attempts to arm the police with cameras that would protect them from
claims of wrongdoing have been stymied by the astonishingly high rate
of failure in the hardware designed to protect them.

At the same time, cellphone footage of actual arrests and killings have
served as damning evidence against claims of legitimate takedowns by
officers. In multiple cases police have confiscated smartphones from
bystanders.

As more and more people get the means to broadcast events live, this
issue is going to come to the fore. The US courts have waxed and waned
over whether citizens have the right to record public police arrests –
however, the deletion of evidence is a definite no-no.

"All Americans should recognize the anger, frustration, and grief that
so many Americans are feeling -- feelings that are being expressed in
peaceful protests and vigils. Michelle and I share those feelings,"
said President Obama in a Facebook message on Thursday.

"Rather than fall into a predictable pattern of division and political
posturing, let's reflect on what we can do better. Let's come together
as a nation, and keep faith with one another, in order to ensure a
future where all of our children know that their lives matter." ®

Tips and corrections "

rmstock · July 11, 2016, 07:58:26 AM

"Philando Castile stopped 52 times by police
He was assessed over $6K in fines, although more than half of the total
86 violations were dismissed. Unlucky, or racially profiled? » "

yankeedoodle · July 11, 2016, 11:07:03 AM

Quote from: yankeedoodle on July 08, 2016, 02:46:36 PM
Quote from: Ognir on July 08, 2016, 02:30:30 PM
The video of th fella running out and shooting guy behind pillar and the spark-works after seems a little over-kill

Agree 100%. Glad to know somebody else noticed the sparks, and thought "that don't look right."

Remember seeing years ago a very cheap jungle combat movie, with a lot of shooting and sparks flying, seemingly off the vegetation. Laughed about it then. Spark-machine technology hasn't improved, apparently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=BHzj8CoTlmo

Ognir · July 16, 2016, 09:24:58 AM