PRESIDENT Obama has vowed “justice will be done” over the Dallas shooting that has left five police officers dead and six injured as well as a civilian
Speaking from the start of a NATO summit in Europe he said there had been a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement. and those involved will be held fully accountable.”
“I believe I speak for every single American when I say that we are horrified and we stand united with the people and the police department in Dallas,” he said.
It comes after reports a gunman in the horrific shooting killed himself after an hour-long standoff with police.
Three other suspects are in custody including a woman who was arrested in garage and two others travelling in a Mercedes.
Dallas Police said two snipers shot police from elevated positions during a Black Lives Matter protest in the city over the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling earlier this week.
Police are sweeping downtown Dallas for explosives which is expected to take “quite a while” according to Dallas Police Departments Major Max Geron.
Hundreds of officers have been deployed after one of the suspects told them “the end is coming.”
Eyewitnesses described the aftermath as “like a war zone” that showed people running for their lives.
Graphic footage from the scene appears to show a man exchanging gun fire with police and witnesses report hearing a loud bang from the garage that police had earlier surrounded after 11 officers were shot by suspected snipers.
Earlier a Dallas Morning News reporter tweeted that there was a “loud boom and what sounded like shattering glass” shortly after police told reporters to move.
Another reporter described the boom as a “flash bang”, a type of stun grenade used to confuse someone’s senses. It is designed to produce a blinding flash of light and an intensely loud bang.
During an earlier press conference, Dallas Police Department Chief David Brown said two snipers shot at “police officers from elevated positions during the protest/rally.”
A civilian, Shetamia Taylor, 37, was also wounded and was reportedly shielding her sons aged 12 and 17, when she was shot.
Sister Theresa Williams said that when the shooting began, Taylor threw herself over her sons. She was undergoing surgery early Friday after being shot in the right calf.
