Dallas is observing the tenth anniversary of a deadly ambush that claimed the lives of five law enforcement officers during a downtown demonstration. The incident occurred on July 7, 2016, when a lone gunman opened fire on participants of a Black Lives Matter protest.
The attack resulted in the deaths of four Dallas Police Department officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officer. Nine additional officers and two civilians sustained injuries during the shooting. The gunman, identified as 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson, an Army Reserve veteran, targeted the officers from an elevated position while they were managing the peaceful gathering.
The Dallas Police Department will conduct a ceremony on Tuesday to honor Officers Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, and Patrick Zamarripa. DART will separately recognize Officer Brent Thompson, who remains the only DART police officer to die in the line of duty. A permanent memorial featuring a 14-foot-tall sculpture with busts of the fallen officers has stood outside the Dallas Police headquarters on Botham Jean Boulevard since its unveiling in 2019. The department typically displays a DPD squad car and a DART police unit near the monument.
Johnson fled the scene after the shooting but was eventually cornered in a parking garage. Following a lengthy standoff and an exchange of gunfire, officers attached explosives to a bomb robot and detonated them near Johnson, killing him. The incident remains the deadliest event for U.S. law enforcement since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
