Dallas PD 1st to Use Robot to Kill Suspect: Expert
Dallas Police Chief David Brown said they saw no other option after hours of negotiation
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NBC 5 Investigates has learned new details about how Dallas police ended the hours-long standoff with the man suspected in Thursday’s deadly attacks downtown.
Police in Dallas used a robot with an explosive device to kill a suspect involved in the shootings of police officers at a rally Thursday night.
Peter W. Singer, a robotics expert with the New America Foundation, said Dallas police appear to be the first American law enforcement agency to use a robot to kill. He said this is first instance of which he's aware of a robot being used lethally by police.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters that after hours of failed negotiations and in order to not put any officers in harm's way, his department used a robot to deliver a bomb that killed the suspect, later identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, of Mesquite, Texas.
A Dallas man who recorded the apparent point blank murder of a police officer spoke with NBC 5 overnight Friday, recalling what he witnessed.
Brown said they "saw no other option" but to kill him by detonating a bomb.
Three Dallas police bomb robots, seen in an undated photo, allow police to examine devices and areas without exposing personnel to danger, according to a 2014 presentation to the public safety committee.
Five police officers were killed and seven were wounded. Two civilians were also injured in the shootings.
Johnson was cornered in a parking garage for hours after the initial shooting. After exchanging gunfire, officers attached an explosive device to a bomb robot and detonated it near Johnson, killing him, Brown said.
A police source tells NBC 5 Investigates that the robot carried ¾ pound of C-4, a plastic explosive. The robot reportedly suffered some damage but may not be a total loss.
One of the organizers of the Dallas rally told NBC 5 a the protest was peaceful and as the crowd begun to disperse, they heard gunfire. “They were shots ringing out from what felt like every direction,” Cory Hughes said. He said the scene turned into “mayhem; we didn’t know where to go.” He said he knew it was a...
The decision on how much explosives to use was made by Dallas SWAT officers trained in explosives, along with ATF experts on the scene.
Singer said in an email Friday that when he was researching his 2009 book "Wired for War" a U.S. soldier told him troops in Iraq sometimes used MARCbot surveillance robots against insurgents.
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Bystanders stand near police barricades following a deadly shooting in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Five officers were killed when gunfire erupted at the end of a protest.
Ting Shen/The Dallas Morning News
A Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officer hugs a woman inside a Dallas hospital, July 8, 2016. One of the officers who was killed in the sniper attack was DART officer Brent Thompson, 43.
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Police shield bystanders after shots fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protesters were rallying in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later in Minnesota, when gunfire broke out.
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Police attempt to calm the crowd as someone is arrested following the sniper shooting in Dallas on July 7, 2016.
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Dallas police and residents stand near the scene where Dallas police officers were shot and killed on July 7, 2016, in Dallas, Texas.
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A Dallas policeman keeps watch on a street downtown on July 7, 2016, after gunshots rang out during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings of black men.
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Police duck for cover after shots were fired in downtown Dallas during a protest on July 7, 2016.
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Dallas police move to detain a driver after several police officers were shot in downtown Dallas, Thursday, July 7, 2016.
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A Dallas police officer, who did not want to be identified, takes a moment as she guards an intersection in the early morning after a shooting in downtown Dallas, July 8, 2016.
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Police cruisers appear in downtown Dallas as officers responded to a deadly sniper attack on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
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Police respond to a gunfire targeting officers in downtown Dallas, Thursday, July 7, 2016.
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Police and others gather at the emergency entrance to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, where several police officers were taken after shootings on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
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A police officer stands guard at a barricade following the sniper shooting in Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
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Police crouch behind a car after a shooting in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
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Police and emergency vehicles appear in downtown dallas after a shooting on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
Dallas police and residents stand near the scene where Dallas police officers were shot and killed on July 7, 2016.
