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- Latest Dallas update: Twelve officers shot. Five dead. Two civilians hit. One suspect dead after a bomb carried by a police robot detonated.
- I had a similar feeling after 9/11: I can't believe it was orchestrated and pulled off.
- Dallas Police Chief this morning: "We don't feel public support on most days."
- More: "Gunman was upset about police shootings, wanted to kill white people, especially white officers."
- Fox 4's Shaun Rabb was the first one to come out and say, without saying it, there would be multiple fatalities. This was shortly before 10:00 p.m. He kept citing "my sources". I later learned he is married to a Dallas police officer.
- The national Fox News inadvertently was the first one to report the shootings by showing footage of officers down in the street via split screen without knowing what they were broadcasting. (Video.)
- Fox News also had the bombastic "Sheriff Clarke" on this morning who blamed the President for the shootings. Incredible.
- Texas AG Ken Paxton tried to capitalize on the tragedy by immediately issuing a press release saying his office would provide all needed support. At that moment, officers were crouched behind police cars in downtown Dallas. And this morning he is at it again by showing up in Dallas and appearing on Fox and Friends. Buddy, there is nothing your office of spare lawyers in Austin has to offer. Not now. And not in the future.
- Paxton, for some reason, pointed out that "I wasn't here when the Kennedy assassination happened in the sixties." He was 11 months old.
- The most graphic video shows a shooter on the street and not elevated as many reports said. (The time stamp on the video was from around 11:50 last night and had a "courtesy of" banner. Was that live streamed by a private citizen and simultaneously broadcast by the local Fox 4 affiliate and others? If it was, we had the media broadcast a murder live.)
- Fox 4, for almost an hour, had a tip line phone number on its screen. Unfortunately, the number was preceded by the words "For Information:" The number was to receive information - not get it.
- The Fan was out of its league this morning. I flipped over during a Ticket commercial break and heard their soft piano return music. They said they weren't talking sports and opened up the phone lines. The first two callers said the Dallas shootings were in response to Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and many other police shootings. The host (who is black) basically remained silent. The other host (white) jumped in and said, "We are opening up the phones but his is not a day for platforms!" The black host said he was "torn" on the issue. A reporter from KRLD was invited on who basically said how can you talk about the shootings without bring race and retaliation into this.
- Dallas Police were irresponsible identifying someone as a "suspect" last night. (He was quickly cleared.) They didn't even utilize the useless "person of interest" term:
- If the media ended up paying Richard Jewell for misidentifying him as the person responsible for the Atlanta Olympic bombing, this guy is going to be paid. (The tricky part is that the media should be able to rely upon the Dallas PD to have its facts correct before releasing a photo of a suspect.)
- He wasn't defamed? The Ticket's Corby Davidson called him a "killer" and a "murderer" on Twitter based upon the Dallas PD's information. (He later took the Tweet down).
- A former Congressman handled the whole situation maturely and with a measured response:
- The slain DART officer was the brother of the Navarro County DA.
- In other news, the U.S. Capitol was just placed on lock down.
- I still remember when a Dallas officer was shot and killed in downtown Dallas by a McDonalds in the late 1980s when racial strife was beginning to rise. If I remember that, I'll remember last night forever. And you will to.
