Dallas Police Chief: Suspect "Wanted to Kill White People"

DALLAS — A sniper involved in an attack on downtown Dallas that resulted in the death of at least five police officers said that he "wanted to kill white people" before being killed by a police department bomb, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said Friday.

Brown and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings provided an update to the media Friday morning on the investigation into the attack that took place late Thursday and early Friday morning at a protest of officer-involved shootings across the country.

“The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter,” Brown said, referring to the protest movement. “He said he was upset about the recent police shootings. The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”

Brown said he could not know what resided in a killer's mind to pinpoint the exact motive.

"There is no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city," Brown said.

Brown also touched on what he viewed as "this divisiveness between our police and our citizens."

"We don't feel much support most days," said Brown, who was born and raised in Dallas. "Let's not make today most days."

For more on this story, learn more about how Dallas police used a robot to kill a suspect for the first time in the U.S., how Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other Texas lawmakers are blaming Black Lives Matter for the shooting, and why Ross Ramsey says we should "save the hashtags for later" after Dallas attacks.