Family of Dallas shooter didn't see signs of pending ambush attack
New details are being released about the man identified as the shooter in last week’s ambush in Dallas that left 5 officers dead and 9 officers injured.
Sources say some of the weapons Micah Johnson had on him and in his home were purchased legally and some were bought online. His parents revealed when he was a kid, he wanted to become a police officer.
In their first interview since the deadly attack, Johnson's parents shared their love for their son and their hate for what he did. They also talked about the difference they saw in their son after his military service.
“I don’t know what to say to anybody to make anything better,” said James Johnson, the suspect’s dad. “I didn't see it coming.”
The father, mother and step-mother of Micah Johnson talked about their son to Lawrence Jones of theblaze.com. Excerpts of the interview were posted on their website.
“I love my son with all my heart,” James said in the Blaze interview. “I hate what he did.”
Johnson graduated from Mesquite's John Horn High School. He was a below average student, ranking near the bottom of his class.
Johnson's mother said her son became a hermit after his military service. He served six years in the army, including a seven month deployment to Afghanistan. He had an honorable discharge but was apparently shipped out of the Middle East after an allegation of sexual harassment. His family says he changed after the military.
“It may be that he, the ideal that he thought of our government, what he thought the military represented, it just didn't live up to his expectation,” said Delphine Johnson, the suspect’s mother.
The bomb making material found inside the home of Micah Johnson was very concerning to police.
“There was a large stockpile. One of the bomb techs called me at home to describe the concern of how large a stockpile of bomb making materials he had,” said Dallas Police Chief David Brown.
During the hours-long standoff Thursday night into Friday morning, Micah Johnson threatened there were bombs across the downtown area.
“I don’t know whether or not he planned to escape and then the bombing would start or he didn't have to complete,” explained Brown. “We just don’t know how the bombing aspect of his plans were going to play out. We're looking for those answers.”
Johnson reportedly wrote detailed plans in journals and electronic devices recovered by police. Johnson was killed when a robot delivered C-4 to the area of El Centro College where Johnson was hiding.
“I asked the question of how much we were using. I said, ‘Don’t bring the building down,’ but that was the extent of my guidance,” said Brown. “I just said, ‘I trust you. You know what I want done.’ They improvised this whole idea in about 15-20 minutes, extraordinary.”
Brown added at times Johnson was singing and laughing while communicating with police negotiators. Brown also revealed the suspect had scrawled “RB” in his own blood on walls in the college.
“The Dallas Police Department is working with the FBI and working with our law enforcement partners in the area to determine the meaning of the initials R.B. that were scribed on the walls in two locations inside El Centro.
Micah Johnson has been identified as the only shooter in Thursday’s ambush. But Chief Brown wants to know if anyone else in anyway helped him plan the attack.
“We're gonna turn over every rock. We're going to follow every lead until it’s exhausted and until I’m satisfied that this was the lone person,” said Chief Brown. “And I may be overly concerned about this but I’m highly protective of cops. I want to make sure there's nobody else out there that had something to do with this.”
Investigators are compiling more than 170 hours of police body cam footage and surveillance cameras from downtown business to recreate a visual timeline of the deadly attack.