Dallas Suspect Was Upset About Recent Police Shootings, 'Wanted to Kill White People'

Dallas, Texas — (NBC News)

Latest developments:

Five Dallas officers were killed and seven were wounded
A suspect holed up in a garage was killed by police after a standoff
The suspect told a hostage negotiator he “was upset about Black Lives Matter”

A suspect in the ambush of 12 Dallas police officers “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers,” and was upset about recent police shootings, the city police chief said Friday.

Authorities killed the man after a standoff in a garage at El Centro Community College in the early hours of Friday morning, after several hours of negotiations. After exchanging gunfire with him, they “saw no other option” but to kill him by detonating a bomb, Brown said.

“Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger,” he said.

Authorities didn’t identify the suspect. A senior law enforcement official told NBC News he is believed to be Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, from the Dallas area.

The sniper attack on the officers — which started Thursday night just before 9 p.m. local time following a peaceful protest over back-to-back police shootings of black men elsewhere in the country this week — killed five officers and injured seven.

It was the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement officers since Sept. 11, 2001.

Officials said Friday that due to the ongoing criminal investigation, they would not release information about suspects. Three people were taken into custody prior to the suspect being killed. It was unclear whether authorities still considered all of them suspects.

Earlier, they said there had been at least two snipers perched in garages downtown who fired on the officers in an “ambush-style” shooting.

But on Friday, Brown told reporters the suspect who was killed “stated that he was not affiliated with any groups and he stated that he did this alone.”

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