The emotional aftershocks from the nation’s recent spate of fatal shootings by and of police intensified Monday, with the Dallas police chief revealing that he and his family have received death threats ever since a sniper killed five officers there last week.
On the eve of a memorial service for those slain officers, Chief David Brown turned highly personal at a news briefing, speaking of the toll the violence is taking on his department.
“We’re all on edge,” he said. “My brain is fried. I’m running on fumes. . . . We’re asking cops to do too much in this country.”
Amid the dizzying currents of protest and violence – including the shooting deaths of two bailiffs at a courthouse in Michigan Monday – President Obama has the difficult task of trying to heal Americans’ growing rifts over race and policing. The president is scheduled to land in Dallas on Tuesday to attend the city’s memorial service, where he will offer condolences to the officers’ families as well as the broader community, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday.
Obama will convene a meeting at the White House the next day to bring together all sides of the issue, including law enforcement, activists and civil rights leaders.
PROTESTS CONTINUE
The goal, Earnest said, is for discussion and solutions to repair “the bonds of trust that have frayed in so many communities between law enforcement officials and the citizens that they’re sworn to serve and protect.”
The demonstrations that had set more than half a dozen cities on edge slowed Monday, although several hundred people again converged on downtown Chicago. Confrontations with police have resulted in more than 200 arrests, most in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police last week, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota, the St. Paul suburb where Philando Castile was fatally shot after a routine traffic stop.
Brown also expressed emotions not often publicly shared by law enforcement officials. At his briefing, he spoke of having to prepare for the five funerals that will begin Wednesday. But he also invoked his inner strength. “I’m a person of faith. I’m here today as a testament to God’s grace and sweet tender mercies,” he said.
He then spoke of the challenges for police across the country, who he said are facing increasing pressure from all sides, and revealed that he was considering mandating that all of his force seek counseling in coming months.
For those Americans demonstrating against police in their own cities, Brown had a message.
“Become a part of the solution,” he said. “We’re hiring. Get off that protest line and put an application in. And we’ll put you in your neighborhood, and we’ll help you resolve some of the problems you’re protesting about.”
GUNMAN’S MOTHER SAYS HE CHANGED AFTER ARMY
Authorities have said Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, an Army veteran, shot the officers during a Black Lives Matter protest. Later, police detonated a bomb-carrying robot in the parking garage where he had fled, killing him.
Police revealed additional details Monday, saying 11 officers fired back at Johnson and two others controlled the robot. They said the department is conducting a comprehensive investigation, including reviewing dash-cam videos from police cars and other videos from businesses in the downtown area.
Johnson’s parents broke their public silence Monday, saying in an interview with the Blaze that his behavior changed after he was discharged from the Army last year. Delphine Johnson said her son had previously been fun-loving but became a “hermit” after his six-year service, which included a deployment to Afghanistan.
“The military was not what Micah thought it would be,” Delphine Johnson said. “He was very disappointed, very disappointed.”
In Michigan, authorities revealed little about the shooting at the courthouse in Berrien County, saying only that there was “a disturbance” on the third floor shortly before 2:30 p.m. An inmate being transferred grabbed a gun and opened fire, shooting both bailiffs and wounding a deputy before being shot and killed himself.
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