False arrests as a "precaution" says Police Chief

The gunman who killed five Dallas police officers in a chaotic shooting spree last week scrawled the letters "RB" on a wall with his blood before he was killed with a remote-controlled robot bomb, Police Chief David Brown said Sunday.

Brown told CNN the letters and other markings indicated Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, was wounded in a shootout with police during a protest march Thursday night in downtown Dallas. Brown said investigators were going through Johnson's laptop, journals and cellphones trying to determine the significance of the letters and other scrawlings.

Brown said the Army veteran demanded a black negotiator, which he got. As negotiations dragged on, Brown said he became concerned that Johnson "would charge us and take out many more" officers.

"He just basically lied to us, playing games, laughing at us, singing, asking how many did he get and that he wanted to kill some more," Brown said.

Investigators have found evidence indicating Johnson "was delusional" and had been planning a much larger attack targeting officers, the police chief said. He said the protest, prompted by recent shootings of African-American men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, may have motivated Johnson to act.

Brown said Johnson was shooting on the move — a tactic he studied at a local self-defense school about two years ago, school founder Justin Everman told the Associated Press.

Johnson was finally cornered behind a brick wall in a parking garage, but Brown determined that any attempt to arrest or shoot him would be too dangerous. Brown said he approved using the bomb, which he described as about one pound of C4, a plastic explosive.

"Without our actions, he would have hurt more officers," Brown told CNN's State of the Union. "We had no choice in my mind but to use all tools necessary."

He dismissed critics who suggested Johnson could have been subdued with non-lethal weapons such as tear gas. "I don't give much quarter to those who ask these type of questions from comfort and safety away from the incident," Brown said.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, speaking on CBS' Face the Nation, said he agreed with the decision. He stressed that Johnson was given an opportunity to surrender.

'We ask him, 'Do you want to come out safely or do you want to stay there and we're going to take you down?' And he chose the latter," Rawlings said.

Brown said three people arrested following the shooting spree included two men who arrived at the protest carrying semiautomatic rifles and a woman who was with them. He said that after the shootings began and people were running everywhere, the group was arrested as a precaution. None had anything to do with the shooting, he added.

For more on this story, please visit Dallas police chief: Shooter scrawled 'RB' on wall in blood

[There is no mention whether the arresting officers were charged or disciplined for arresting these people who broke no laws. -Ed.]