Dallas is observing the tenth anniversary of the July 7, 2016, ambush that resulted in the deaths of five law enforcement officers during a downtown protest. The incident remains one of the deadliest attacks on police in modern United States history. The shooting left four Dallas Police Department officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer dead, while injuring several others and altering policing practices in the city.
The violence began during a demonstration that had started peacefully. Shortly after 7 p.m., approximately 800 people gathered in downtown Dallas and marched along Main Street. The gathering followed the police killings of two Black men in Minnesota and Louisiana earlier that week. Participants chanted slogans including "Black Lives Matter" and "Hands up, don't shoot" as they moved through the area.
Witness accounts indicate that nearly 100 police officers surrounded the demonstrators. Despite high tensions, the march proceeded without incident until just before 9 p.m., when the first shots were fired.
The gunman, identified as Micah Johnson, targeted officers near the protest route before moving through downtown. He eventually entered El Centro College, where he exchanged gunfire with responding officers. A standoff ensued, lasting several hours. Dallas police deployed a robot equipped with explosives to kill Johnson, ending the situation in the early hours of July 8.
The officers killed in the attack were Michael Krol, Lorne Ahrens, Patrick Zamarripa, and Michael Smith of the Dallas Police Department, along with DART Officer Brent Thompson. Several other officers and civilians sustained injuries before the gunman was neutralized.
