Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Obama to Visit Dallas Early Next Week; Dallas Sniper Kills 5 Police Officers, Wounds 7; Protests Spread After Week of Shooting Violence; South Korea: North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired July 09, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:07] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and indeed all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And I'm George Howell here in Dallas, Texas, and we're at the Dallas Police Department headquarters.
And I would like to give you a sense of what is happening behind me. You see this memorial you see set-up. You see the balloons, you see the flowers. There are messages to remember the five officers, these five officers who were killed in the line of duty. Their families who expected them to come home. Those officers did not come home. The U.S. President Barack Obama is set to visit Dallas in the coming days at the request of the city's mayor.
In the meantime, we are learning new details about the act of domestic terrorism that killed five police officers and wounded seven others Thursday night. Two civilians were also wounded. Authorities believe that the gunman, 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson, a former U.S. Army reservist was the lone gunman.
They say he was armed with at least two weapons. He had a rifle, he had a handgun and he opened fire on police officers as these protesters marched peacefully through the streets of Dallas. Police negotiators said he told them he was upset about recent police shootings of African-Americans and that he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.
The Texas governor praised police here in Dallas for their efforts to protect those demonstrators when the gunfire erupted. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG ABBOTT, TEXAS GOVERNOR: The past 24 hours in Dallas has been a tale of two cities. On the one hand, it's been the tale of heroism of police officers. At the same time, it's been a tale of cowardice by an assassin. We are so proud even in our mourning today of the men and women who wear the uniform of the Dallas Police Department, as well as the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, for their heroism in the face of remarkable danger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: The Texas Governor Greg Abbott there speaking.
We're also monitoring here on CNN, protests across the country after the violence we've seen this week. We're seeing live pictures this hour of people gathered to protest in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. You can see the images there. A very, very packed in crowd there, but at this point we understand peaceful protests playing out in Phoenix, Arizona.
Also, in Atlanta Georgia there at CNN world headquarters near the downtown area. We saw thousands of people who have been marched for much of the day. That march was peaceful there and there have been no arrests at this point. We continue to monitor it. People have also been gathering in the city of San Francisco. We're seeing live images here from that protest that has been playing out.
Back here in Dallas, there are so many people who were caught up in the middle of the chaos that played out just the other night. Brendan Hester is one at the protest. He was there Thursday night and he saw the first police officer being gunned down and he caught it all on video that was obtained exclusively by CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SIREN WAILING)
UNIDENTIFIEDMALE: Get out of the way, guys! Go, go!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Images from just the other day. These images from when the officers were protecting people, the protesters, then the gunfire rang out here in Dallas.
There were a lot of videos that captured what happened that night. I want to show you another from Gerry McCarthy here.
We may be having trouble getting that video but even better than that, we can bring in Gerry here and Gerry can explain the video.
Thanks for being with us. Talk to us about what you captured.
GERRY MCCARTHY, DALLAS MORNING NEWS PHOTOJOURNALIST: So I was coming down, I had been with the march shooting video for "Dallas Morning News". The march had been kind of at the old red courthouse and seemed to be sort of wrapping up. People were coming up Jackson Street towards the garden as I was coming around Jackson, I thought what I heard what I thought were fireworks and started to see people jump over like a little gate that was there.
[00:05:01] HOWELL: That is what so many people said, they thought they heard fireworks. We're looking at the video you captured. You're familiar with these images. Walk us through what you see.
MCCARTHY: Yes, by the time I got to here, so the sound of fireworks was further back up on to Jackson, which would be to my right if that was my point of view. It was kind of a little bit of scattered noise and once it got to be not consistent and sounded more like gunshots. So, as people ran back, I followed the police cars up to this spot and ended up getting pinned against this wall where people were running by.
HOWELL: And just for reference, that's right by the plaza, the Bank of America plaza.
MCCARTHY: That's right. My back was against the parking garage structure. So, there was myself and a father and son to my left and another cameraman was to my right. And eventually, these guys moved us out into the garage. We were kind moving through the garage and people started to spill out of the stair wells saying there is someone up there with the gun shooting so we had to move to a different location and move that way for the rest of the evening back to a more secure radio area.
HOWELL: It is interesting to get the perspective from another journalist. I think back to covering Ferguson, Missouri. You're instinctually following, you cover the job. You do the news, but at the same time, you're in danger here.
MCCARTHY: Yes, I don't think about it until later. I mean, I couldn't even tell where the gunshots were coming from. I saw the officers looking that way.
HOWELL: Yes, and they were pushing everybody back.
MCCARTHY: They were pushing us back eventually. I mean, once they sort of had their situation controlled, they turned around and saw this group of people there, they're like, you guys got to move. I couldn't tell which direction the shots were coming from. I just assumed the cops were looking this way, that is where the gunfire was. So I had a little piece of concrete next to me, so I was hopeful that that was enough to keep me safe.
HOWELL: So you were in the middle of all of that. You've seen the last 12, 24 hours transpire, how has this city responded?
MCCARTHY: It has been pretty incredible. This has been a really wonderful thing to see.
HOWELL: It is touching.
MCCARTHY: You know, it is a pretty tight knit community and I don't know that we have experienced some of the same things at least, well, that is not true. There have been some of those things. It has been neat for people to come together and support this law enforcement. Support each other.
I think the important thing for me to communicate was it was a very peaceful march beforehand, and it was unfortunate that that was sort of taken over by this other event unfortunately and I think it is important that people realize that the cops were there, doing their jobs, protecting people and it was a really, it was a really, just normal rally. It wasn't aggressive in any sort of way. This came out of nowhere.
HOWELL: You know, we talk about that. That it was a peaceful protest. Keep in mind, the Dallas Police Department, unlike other cities -- I mean, you see these officers taking pictures with the protesters, interacting. I mean, it wasn't an "us against them" situation in Dallas.
MCCARTHY: No.
HOWELL: I mean, it really does seem like these two groups really work together.
MCCARTHY: It seems that way. Certainly, in that situation, it definitely felt that way, so --
HOWELL: Gerry McCarthy, thank you so much for being with us.
MCCARTHY: OK.
HOWELL: Thank you.
The victims killed in the shooting are remembered by their colleagues, loved ones and many people around the world. This is the deadliest single day incident since the September 11th attacks. Five police officers killed in the line of duty.
CNN's Martin Savidge has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Officer Patrick Zamarripa loved being a cop. He served on the Dallas police force for five years. On Thursday night, he was deployed to watch over the protests.
A Navy veteran who survived multiple tours in the Iraq war, Officer Zamarripa died on the streets of Dallas. He leaves behind two young children. His father and brother posting tributes to him on Facebook and Twitter saying they couldn't be prouder. Officer Zamarripa was 32 years old.
Officer Michael Krol worked as a sheriff's deputy in Michigan. He moved to Dallas in 2007 to fulfill his goal of becoming a police officer. His uncle says he worked hard to join the Dallas police force. Officer Krol was 40 years old.
Officer Lorne Ahrens was a 14-year veteran of the Dallas police force. He was married to a Dallas police detective. He leaves behind two children.
Brent Thompson was a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer, a seven-year veteran of the force. He was a father and a grandfather and a newlywed. He married a fellow transit officer just weeks ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I spoke with him a couple of weeks ago. He was in great spirits.
SAVIDGE: Before working in Dallas, he overseas as a police liaison officer in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was the first officer to be killed in the protests. Officer Thompson was 43 years old.
[00:10:00] Three other DART officers were also shot in the protest but they're expected to survive. Officer Misty McBride was shot twice, once in the arm and one in the abdomen. Her fellow officers helped her so safety. Her young daughter says she was able to tell her mom she loved her before she headed in for surgery.
HUNTER MCBRIDE, DAUGHTER OF INJURED VICTIM : I was just happy that she was okay. That is really it. That she can leave on to tomorrow and that I'm just glad that she is alive, really.
SAVIDGE: Two civilians were wounded in the shooting. One of them was attending the protest with her four sons. When the gunfire broke out, 37-year-old Shetamia Taylor was shot in the right leg and immediately jumped to cover her 15-year-old son with her body.
THERESA WILLIAMS, SISTER OF INJURED VICTIM: She jumped on top to cover him on the ground as she pushed in between two cars on the curve. Her other three boys scattered and ran in opposite direction so she lost three of her boys. Didn't know where they were.
SAVIDGE: She is expected to make a full recovery. And her sister says she's been praying for the families of the fallen police officers.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Let's now bring in John Matthews. He is a former Dallas police officer and also the author of "Mass Shootings Six Steps to Survival", joining us here live in Dallas, in front of the police headquarters.
John, so thank you for being with us. When you think about last night, when you think about how the many officers came together and handled this situation, you've been in a similar spot. What do you think?
JOHN MATTHEWS, FORMER DALLAS POLICE OFFICER: The word professionalism comes to mind. They were out there protecting the public, guarding the citizens and they became the target. And you saw officers ducking for cover, but you also saw officers grabbing citizens, moving them along, trying to protect them. So, they kept doing their job under gunfire as they saw fellow officers being hit, being injured, and being killed right of them. And so, professionalism is the word that comes to my mind first.
HOWELL: And also, talk to us about how the police department interacts with the protesters before this terrible incident we saw the other day, they work together it seems.
MATTHEWS: That's right. We have a great community out reach program here. We're constantly trying to build bridges with the community. Reach out to hear their concerns, learn their issues, tell them how it is like behind the badge, and to work together to make the public safe.
And if you looked at the video before the shooting, officers were posing with some of the demonstrators and taking pictures and doing social media, I mean, working together.
HOWELL: And I like to point that out. We get into the situations where it seemed binary. Let's talk about the fact that no, not exactly, because there has been a lot of interaction.
MATTHEWS: Can I tell you what I saw today?
HOWELL: Please, do.
MATTHEWS: Right here behind us at this makeshift memorial, we had people of all races, creeds and races, with officers of all colors, creeds and races coming together at this makeshift memorial. And today at city hall, they were laying side by side on gurneys donating blood. That's a community that comes together.
HOWELL: Five police officers killed in the line of duty, you know? I was a police reporter at one point in my career and I remember getting to know law enforcement and many of their families and these are families with, you know, children, wives and husbands, and you know, they learned the news that their loved one would not come home.
What's it like from an officer's perspective to lose one of your own?
MATTHEWS: I mean, horribly tragic and our thoughts, our prayers go out to -- the ones we've lost, the ones that had been injured, the families of everybody. Our police department family and we've got to come together. We've got to pull together and take care of each other.
As you said, it is an absolutely horrific event that moms and dads aren't coming home. And children aren't going to have their parent anymore and that is about as bad as it gets and from day one, when you're in the academy, your thought is I want to make it home tonight. I want to make it home tonight and when you get married, when you have kids, you think I want to make it home tonight for them. And, unfortunately, some didn't make it home last night.
HOWELL: John Matthews, thank you for your time.
MATTHEWS: Thank you, sir.
HOWELL: We have this memorial to remember the officers for their service. Thank you.
Michael, we'll toss it to you now. Thank you.
HOLMES: All right, George, we'll check in with you shortly.
Meanwhile, we've got some breaking news to bring you out of the Korean peninsula. North Korea launches a ballistic missile from a submarine, this according to the South Korean defense ministry. This just in the last hour or so.
For more of what we know about this from the latest move from Pyongyang, let's go to our Matt Rivers, who's standing by Seoul, on the line.
OK. Matt, let's start with the launch, what do you know?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Sure. This happened according to the South Korean joint chief of staff around 11:30 a.m. Saturday local time here.
[00:15:03] Apparently, this submarine launch ballistic missile, or SLBM for short, was launched from the sea southeast of Sinpo City, that is the eastern part, that is in a province eastern part of North Korea, 11:30 a.m. local time, and we are just hearing the latest information from the joint chiefs of staff here.
Now, they're also saying that that is all of the information we have as of this point. Too early to determine whether this test fire was a success or not. That information usually comes in relatively quickly. We usually get that information after defense officials here have time to examine their data and to determine whether the test firing was a success or not.
This, of course, is the latest of provocations from North Korea beginning at least for this particular year, 2016, back in January, when North Korea tested a nuclear weapon and there have been several missile tests. And then the most recent set of tests coming in late June which were considered partial success by defense missions here.
And there was another SLBM launched in April by North Korea. That failed according to South Korean defense official, saying it only flew about 30 kilometers, and according to them. It has to fly 300 kilometers to be considered a success.
But SLBM, they're a big goal of the Kim Jong-un regime. Experts would tell you that it would make an effective SLBM program, it would make it harder for South Korean and United States defense officials to perhaps predict a launch or judge whether a launch -- when a launch is going to happen. Of course, it would extend a North Korea strategic capabilities.
So, Michael, just the latest -- this launch a latest in the series of provocations this year for North Korea.
HOLMES: Yes. And, Matt, just a little bit of context here, of course. These launches are always controversial and normally have consequences for the North. It is interesting, the last couple of days, the U.S. putting whacking some more sanctions on North Korea, in particular under the leader Kim Jong-un and other regime figures. This is for the first time over human rights abuses. And then, also in the last couple of days, we've seen the THAAD missile intercept system, the U.S. system. South Korea agreeing to deploy that. There's going to be a lot of speculation of whether that played into the timing of this launch.
RIVERS: I think it is fairly safe to say that that those two things happening this week and us seeing a launch, test launch from North Korea on Saturday probably is not coincidence. The North Koreans responded via the state news agency very, very negatively to those sanctions.
The human rights sanctions, they are really a first for the United States, the Treasury Department sanctioning Kim Jong-un himself, that's the first time they've done that, saying he is a violator of human rights, him and several dozen or so other North Korean officials, accusing them of extrajudicial killings, forced labor, torture, and that's the first time we've really seen them named specifically like that. Largely symbolic but still very, very unprecedented and then you have the deployment of the THAAD system which is the very advanced missile defense system that the United States and South Korea just yesterday announcing that they're in the final stages of deploying that. That's new.
And so, there is a lot for North Korea to respond to and given what they said in state media, I don't think it is processing this weekend that you see them launch this SLBM. Whether it was a successful launch or not, test launch, we're still unsure at this point.
HOLMES: As you say, Matt, unlikely to be unrelated and also that THAAD missile defense system is something that angers China who is also annoyed at North Korea for their missile test. So, a very complex little patchwork of developments happening where you are.
Matt, thanks so much. Matt Rivers there in Seoul, South Korea.
And we're going to take a short break. We're going to be right back with much more on Dallas reeling, of course, after the deadly ambush on the city's police.
We'll take you to more protests happening across the U.S.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:20:36] RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: I'm Richard Quest and these are the business headlines.
A strong jobs report in the United States has calmed fears U.S. heading for a major slowdown. The U.S. economy added 280,000 jobs in June. That is 100,000 more than the market was expecting and the best month of the year so far. The unemployment rate ticked up just slightly. It's a sign that more people are in the workforce looking for jobs.
Wall Street staged its biggest rally of the week in response to the jobs numbers. The Dow rose 250 points to finish above 18,000 for the first time since the Brexit vote from the European Union. European markets make gains. The FTSE 100 finishing higher for the week as the whole.
President Obama says the doomsday rhetoric surrounding Brexit is overblown. The U.S. president met the European Council President Donald Tusk at a NATO summit on Friday. And in op-ed in "The Financial Times", Mr. Obama wrote he is confident the U.K. and the E.U. will be able to agree on an orderly transition to a new relationship.
The pound is now the worst performing currency in the world. The sterling has fallen 12 percent against the U.S. dollar since the start of the year. Most of that drop, of course, from the Brexit vote.
You are now up to date with the business headlines. I'm Richard Quest in New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:23:07] HOWELL: Welcome back to our special coverage live here in Dallas, Texas. We're learning more about the act of domestic terror here in Dallas. This attack targeting officers, killing five officers and wounding seven on Thursday.
The mayor of Dallas say the gunman, 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson, acted alone. Officials say he was armed with at least two weapons. He had a rifle and a handgun. Detectives searching Johnson's home on Friday.
Also found, bomb making materials there. Ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics.
As this investigation continues, the president of the United States, Barack Obama, is condemning the shooting from his trip overseas in Poland. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe that I speak for every single American when I say that we are horrified over these events and that we stand united with the people and the police department in Dallas. We will learn more undoubtedly about their twisted motivations, but let's be clear. There is no possible justification for these kinds of attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: The White House says Mr. Obama will cut his trip short to Europe and visit Dallas next week as he continues to travel to this city that continues to mourn these slain officers.
Michael, back to you.
HOLMES: All right, George. We'll check back with you shortly. Meanwhile, people in other cities in the U.S. are being protesting
those shootings by police officers this week and the country's race relations in general. We'll take you now to Phoenix, Arizona. This is downtown Phoenix. Live pictures of people gathered there to protest.
Meanwhile, here in Atlanta, Georgia, hundreds of people blocking an entrance to a major freeway after marching through downtown. They didn't get down to the freeway and block that.
[00:25:02] Police stopped that. The city's mayor was on the scene. He said since the protests were peaceful, he would let them continue.
Protesters are gathering in San Francisco, too, in California, holding signs, speaking about how to bring change.
In fact, our John Vause is there in San Francisco where a rally is wrapping up. He joins me now.
John, tell us what's been going on. What have you been hearing?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael, this is where we are right now. Just maybe 100 or so people outside of city hall. There were a few hundred people that took place in the protest. It began a few miles away at fisherman's wharf. Before the rally began, they held a prayer, they held a prayer for a peaceful rally, also a prayer this would not be another Dallas.
There was a brief mention of the five officers shot dead in Dallas but the organizers say they wanted the focus to be on Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the two African-American men shot by police earlier this week.
On their way to city hall, they staged a brief sit-in and that's when they read out the names of some of the victims of police shootings this year alone. But for the most part, it has been peaceful. They made signs saying stop racist cops, end corrupt cops. That kind of thing, stop the police terrorism.
There were a lot of police on hand as well. I counted almost 100 police at one point and they did have, you know, the big batons and the helmets. Just to be prepared, but none of that was needed, it turned out.
They made their way here to city hall. There have been fiery speeches here. At one point, the speaker did say, why should we feel guilty for the deaths of five police officers? That should not stop this movement. We don't care about those five police officers and they got a pretty big cheer from this crowd. Also at one point, one passerby did stop, confronted a few of the protesters here, yelling, "All lives matter". He was shouted down and eventually, the police helped him to leave the scene, Michael.
HOLMES: All right. John Vause there in San Francisco, interacting with the locals. Good to see you. Thanks, John. We'll check in with you a bit later, too. More details emerging about the mass shooting in Dallas, Texas. We'll
have the latest from Dallas when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:30:41] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers here in the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell live here in Dallas, Texas. The back drop behind me, the Dallas Police Department headquarters. You see this memorial that has grown and continues to grow.
I would like to cut over to a shot on the side of me. There are so many people here, together to sing, to chant, to hold hands, to remember these five police officers who were killed in the line of duty.
In the meantime, we're learning much more about the mass shooting that played out just less than a mile from where we're standing right now. Officials say the lone attacker was 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson, a military veteran who served in Afghanistan. He says, rather they say Johnson killed the five officers. He is the person behind it, wounding seven others in the attack that night. Two civilians also injured in that attack.
Police killed Johnson with a bomb on a robot. The shooting occurred near the end of a protest over the police shooting of two dead African-American men in different states that happened earlier this week.
For more now on how Dallas is responding to the shooting, I'm joined by CNN political commentator Ben Ferguson, via Skype.
Ben, it's good to be with you this day. Look, you know, around the world, people saw what happened in Dallas. Americans are reacting. This is my home state.
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
HOWELL: We were covering the news, as it is yours as well, Ben. You know, it was hard to watch and hard to report the terrible facts of these officers not coming home to the families.
Just talk to us about the last 24 hours, what you've seen and how the state has responded.
FERGUSON: It has been a unique 24 hours because you had total shock and mayhem at this time last night. You then had the shock of how many police officers were shot and then the shock of how many police officers are now dead, and then the anger and the frustration of why is this happening in this country. And then you have the other shootings of other police officers today around the country in Tennessee and Georgia and St. Louis. And so, you combine that with also a police chief that is loved by his community, an African-American police chief, who made it very clear last night and today again when he goes into work, he says he does not feel like he has the support of the American people of the community. He does not feel like the police are any longer the good guys and he made that very clear that the police need the support of the community. It was not about race to him. It's about there has been a change on how we treat police officers in the country.
And then you see the love how people responded to that. If you look at the memorial set-up and the people that are there that have stopped by to hug police officers, to pray with them, to care for them. That is something that is encouraging.
While at the very same time, you have protests that are continuing to happen around the country that are not stopping, not taking a moment to pause in the wake of what has happened with this horrific shooting, this massacre in Dallas, Texas.
And so, when you combined all of that together, it is still hard to really move forward and to look at, are we in a better place tonight than we were last night? Are we healing or are we very much divided in this country and I think that is what you're saying is people are trying to decide what side they're going to be on will they be at the memorial supporting police, are they going to stand with the men and women, or are they continue to protest?
And even some said that police deserved this. It is shocking to see how divided people are with the police in this country.
HOWELL: You know, Ben, let's talk more about that. The back drop, the context is important. We can't forget the fact that this week, we saw these very graphic videos that played out for everyone to see in plain view of African-American men being shot by police officers, the police involved shootings. It is angered many people, it is heartbreaking to see.
[00:35:03] There are investigations under way. That happened, we saw protests result from that. We're in the middle of, you know, getting close towards the end of the political cycle that is very, you know, us or them.
It seems, though, that Dallas, Texas, has taken pause and they are recognizing the fact that on this day, they are honoring the lives of these officers --
FERGUSON: Yes.
HOWELL: -- who were killed in the line of duty.
FERGUSON: And I have to give an incredible amount of leadership congratulations to the police chief and the mayor and the governor. Many of them coming from very different political perspectives, but when they had the press conference earlier today, they didn't care about who was running for president. They didn't care about the protesters who were still trying to make their point. They cared about these families and their police officers.
There are families tonight that are never, ever going to see their loved ones who did not return home when they went to work and they were out there. I think, one of the most incredible things, the selfless things you see by the police officers, these men and women, were protecting protesters who were protesting them, and they stood in front of them and protected the protestors who were out protesting the police and they stood by and helped those people.
Even if there are some that took it another level, some celebrated the police officers being shot and killed downtown last night. That was probably the most shocking things I've seen in this country ever, to see American citizens celebrating the shooting and the death of police officers.
But what the city did was they came together around these rallies and the cops, I think it will be a different day at least in the near term. I hope in the long-term for community policing and for standing for the police, because there is the majority of people they're saying, look, these policemen in Dallas had nothing to do with the shooting in Baton Rouge, had nothing to do with the shooting in Minneapolis, St. Paul. They're community police officers.
You saw policemen, game wardens, DART officers, people coming from 50 miles away to help the police last night. Many of them black and white and Hispanic. They didn't care and they came together and that is what the police force does and I hope we remember that.
HOWELL: You know it's interesting, I spoke with one of the protesters who was here the other night. Again, as you point out, protesting, you know, alleged police brutality that's been playing out across the United States. But he said the officers, they were outstanding. They put their lives on the line to protect him and he pointed that out and also making the point that Dallas just seems to really understand the essence of what it is, not getting caught up in the political lenses of, you know, the confusion that can play out in Ferguson in Dallas.
FERGUSON: Yes.
HOWELL: Ben, thank you for your time.
FERGUSON: Thank you.
HOWELL: We'll get back to you.
FERGUSON: Absolutely.
HOWELL: I want to also talk about one of the officers killed in the line of duty, Patrick Zamarripa. He was killed in Dallas. He was a U.S. navy veteran, and father of two. Patrick's own dad shared a bit about his son with us earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK ZAMARRIPA, FATHER OF OFFICER PATRICK ZAMARRIPA, KILLED IN DALLAS: He was very, very helpful young man. He was very giving. He would give you his last dollar if he had it in his pocket if you need it. He would bend over backwards to help everybody out. He was patient. He would try to help anybody out the best he could.
If you needed help, Patrick would offer to help. Even if he couldn't do anything, he would offer it to you.
My son, he was -- since day one, since he was born, he was a hero, he was my little hero and he's a big hero now. Yes, he's -- he's going to be missed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: He will be missed, indeed.
Officer Zamarripa's family has been sharing photos and stories about his life on social media.
We will have much more of our coverage live here in Dallas, Texas, straight ahead as the great state of Texas continues to mourn the loss of these officers killed in the line of duty.
We'll bring you the very latest on what we're learning about the shooter, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:42:35] HOWELL: I'm George Howell live here in Dallas, Texas. This is where sniper shot 12 police officers just the other day, killing five of them in a line of duty at a peaceful protest Thursday night.
The mayor of Dallas says the gunman was acting alone when he ambushed the officers. He told police that he had bombs but police killed him with an explosive on a robot after the negotiations failed. The 25- year-old was a military veteran who served in Afghanistan.
Michael, back to you.
HOWELL: George, thanks so much. We'll check in later.
Now, the deadly ambush in Dallas occurred as people in the city and other cities across the U.S. took to the streets to peacefully protest recent killings of African-Americans by police, chanting "black lives matter".
Randi Kaye has more on the movement that has become increasingly visible here in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PROTESTERS: Black lives matter! Black lives matter!
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What started with a hashtag has turned into a rallying cry.
PROTESTERS: Black lives matter! KAYE: The goal? To shine a light on racial injustice.
MICHAELA ANGELA DAVIS, CULTURAL CRITIC WRITER: This is a generation that wants to dismantle structural racism. This is the generation that wants to get at the core of it. That wants to get at the systemic problem.
KAYE: The Black Lives Matter movement was born after the shooting death of Florida Teen Trayvon Martin, when his killer, neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, was cleared of any wrong-doing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury find George Zimmerman not guilty.
KAYE: After Trayvon, the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of police gave rise to more voices of protests.
There was Eric Garner in New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eric Garner and Michael Brown!
PROTESTERS: Shut it down, shut it down!
KAYE: And Michael Brown in Ferguson, where the movement really began to take hold.
OPAL TOMETI, CO-FOUNDER OF THE BLACK LIVES MATTER: The people, the local neighborhood in Ferguson were willing to call attention to the issues, right? They're willing to put their lives on the line for Michael Brown and for their own future.
KAYE: Then 12-year-old Tamir Rice who only had a pellet gun was killed by police in Cleveland.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The young man pulled a weapon out and that's when the officer fired.
KAYE: Activists say the list goes on, Tony Robinson, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray. In most incidents the officers were not indicted, fuelling the anger and amping up the message.
[00:45:04] ASHLEY SHARPTON, MARCH PARTICIPANT: They need to take care of our country. The police ought to protect us and then you can make sure that insuring that.
KAYE: There are now dozens of Black Lives Matter chapters across the United States and while some believe the movement has actually incited violence and worsened race relations, its founders disagree.
TOMETI: The reality is this is a peaceful human rights movement led by incredibly courageous black people. I think we are demanding justice and freedom for our people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And CNN political commentator Angela Rye joins us now to talk about this. She is also the former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Angela, great to have you here in the studio with us.
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.
HOLMES: I want to talk about the protest in Dallas itself was peaceful until all of this happened. I'm just wondering the message of that protest and the message of a lot of the black lives matter protest has been diluted in the wake of the killing of the police officers.
What -- how do you feel about that message being lost in the last couple of days?
RYE: Well, I certainly think that the shootings of the officers was a horrible, tragic event and I also believe that it was a terrible distraction from what needed to really begin a message and a conversation about healing in this country from the two shooting deaths, both of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. We were not able to talk through that because another horrific event ravaged this country and broke hearts of family members all throughout Dallas.
I think the reality itself is very dangerous for us to say that that rogue shooter dilute the message of Black Lives Matter, which condemned the violence, put out a statement today saying, we do not support the acts of violence by this particular shooter and have nothing to do with him.
HOLMES: And at the same time it all speaks to the decisiveness in the country. A radio host Rush Limbaugh, who is well-known in the U.S., perhaps not around the world, told his audience that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist group.
RYE: Horrible.
HOLMES: He's Rush Limbaugh. But, you know, speak of the decisiveness in this country. It's black versus white. It's Muslim versus non- Muslim. It is born here versus not born here. All sort of shaken and stirred by a toxic discussion in this country.
What do you make of that?
RYE: Sure, I do think it is toxic in this country but I also don't think it is unique to the country. When you look at what happened with Brexit, when you look at Boris Johnson and the comparisons made to him and Donald Trump, when you hear the type of rhetoric spewed about our Muslim brothers and sisters all around the globe because there are people who happen to say they're Muslim who are also terrorists. I think that we have to be very, very careful about putting people in boxes where we're not comfortable with actually dealing with people based on their own individual experiences.
You're no more monolithic to your next door neighbor than I am to mine. And I think it's important for us to find key identifying points where we can critical discussions about the things that hurt us, about the things that make us stronger and how we can move forward. But we won't be able to do that until we start paying respect to people's differences and how they grow up and their experiences here.
HOLMES: OK. So what needs to be done when it comes to police and community relations? A lot of people have sort of suggested that there needs to be more of a collusion between the community and the police departments. By all accounts, Dallas was doing a good job, ironically doing that. It is not the case everywhere.
People talk about community-run civilian commissions perhaps, the make up police departments versus racial make up versus the community that they serve. What sort of things need to be done? What are the priorities?
RYE: I think all of those things are high on the priority list but I think given what has happened this week, we have to start talking about accountability and transparency in police departments. It's very, very important that data is able to be collected.
It's very, very important that policemen and women are held accountable when they run afoul of the rules, when they take a life. That is murder. Anyone else would be in jail, if anyone else behaved the same way as the officers both in the Alton Sterling case and the Philando Castile, they would be in jail. So, it's important for us to treat officers like they're not above the law. Very important.
HOLMES: And I have to add a caveat to that. We don't know yet the full story of both of those cases and the investigations are not done, but certainly things --
RYE: If things appear as they did on video --
HOLMES: If they appear on video.
RYE: -- they would be at least arrested.
HOLMES: Right. Well, yes, the investigation, we got to say, is still being done.
You know, I just wanted to ask you one thing. Do you think it is impossible for the average white people in America to walk in the shoes of the average black person? Do you think there is a disconnect in understanding what the experience is interacting with police or in other elements of life?
[00:50:05] RYE: So, I think it is important and that's why I kind of emphasize the whole monolithic idea earlier. I don't know what the average black person is. I don't know what the average white person is. I think the most important thing that we can all do with our neighbors, with our friends, with our classmates, with our colleagues, is have conversations.
My experience is very different. You mentioned, I work for the CBC. It's very different from every single one of those members. There is age difference, there's geographic difference, there's gender difference. There are all types. We went to different schools and we had different grades, we majored in different things. Some of us went to law schools, some of us engineers.
So, you have to come from the understanding you having a conversation with a black person doesn't mean that you've talked to the whole community. Just like if I talk to someone who is white, I haven't talked to the whole community.
HOLMES: But a conversation is a good idea.
RYE: Good place to start.
HOLMES: Angela, thanks so much.
RYE: Thank you so much.
HOLMES: Angela Rye there.
Well, still ahead on the program, hundreds gathering to honor and remember the Dallas police officers killed by a sniper. We'll take you there.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE RAWLINGS, DALLAS, TEXAS MAYOR: We are thankful for our lives, others lost them last night.
[00:55:04] We are thankful for our families, other families lost that last night. We are thankful for our city, yes, and we are thankful for each other. That is why we're here today just hours after this act of evil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Thankful, the mayor of Dallas, Texas, Mike Rawlings. He and other state and city officials held an interfaith vigil Friday, honoring the officers killed in a line of duty Thursday night.
There were similar scenes at cities across the United States, in solidarity with these slain officers.
HOLMES: All right. George, thanks so much.
A vigil for the murdered officers has been going on for hours.
Our Ed Lavandera is there and also has some new information about the sniper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just outside the Dallas police department headquarters, a vigil and emotional scene. This vigil has been growing steadily throughout the day. People coming, leaving flowers on the police cars and notes of condolences to the fallen officers, as well as those that were wounded and the police force here in Dallas that essentially has been shaken to its core.
All of this while the investigative work continues. There have been officers there at the crime scene, on the streets of downtown Dallas piecing together and we also know that those officers have been trying to retrace the steps that the killer Micah Johnson followed in his attack that ended with the killings of the five police officers here Thursday night in Dallas.
We also know that investigators including federal law enforcement have been at the home of Micah Johnson where neighbors tell us he lived with his mother. That is where authorities tell us they discovered weapons, ammunition, bomb-making material, as well as a journal that wrote about combat tactics. Detectives are pouring into the journal to get more into the mind of this killer.
So, all of that going on tonight here as a city mourns.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And you're watching CNN. I'm Michael Holmes in Atlanta.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell live in Dallas, Texas. We will be right back with more special coverage of the shooting here after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
