12 Officers Shot, Five Fatally, By Snipers In Dallas At A Demonstration Against Police Shootings

Sniper Fire Kills Five Police Officers, Injures Seven Others In Dallas. On July 7, snipers targeted police officers at a demonstration against police shootings in Dallas, TX, killing five and injuring seven others. President Barack Obama addressed the attack from Warsaw, Poland, saying, “There has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement” and that “Police in Dallas were on duty doing their jobs, keeping people safe, during peaceful protests.” From The New York Times:

Snipers killed five Dallas police officers and wounded seven others, along with two civilians, during a demonstration on Thursday night against police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana this week, the authorities said.



By morning, one suspect had been killed by the police, who used a robot-controlled bomb after extensive negotiations during a standoff in a garage in downtown Dallas at the El Centro community college. Three others were in custody.

[...]

“There has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement,” President Obama told reporters Friday morning in Warsaw, where he was attending a NATO summit meeting, after speaking by phone with Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas.

Mr. Obama went on: “Police in Dallas were on duty doing their jobs, keeping people safe, during peaceful protests. These law enforcement officers were targeted, and nearly a dozen officers were shot. Five were killed. Other officers, and at least one civilian, were wounded. Some are in serious condition, and we are praying for their recovery.” [The New York Times, 7/8/16]

Fox Figures Blame Obama For Sniper Attack On Police

Fox News Contributor Kevin Jackson: Obama “Helped To Stoke” The Attack On Police Officers. Fox contributor Kevin Jackson asserted “Barack Obama’s speech helped to stoke” the Dallas shootings. From the July 8 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

KEVIN JACKSON: I think what we should be talking about is why this attack occurred, which is, quite frankly, we've been leading up to it. When it happened in Ferguson, people seem to forget that police officers were shot at in Ferguson in one of the last episodes. And police officers are being killed all over this country and it's leadership from the top. Barack Obama's speech helped to stoke this. I know people don't like to hear this, but we are not having an honest conversation around why this type of thing is occurring because everyone on the left wants to look at this through the ethnocentric and, I believe, racist eyes of black crime. The facts are very clear, many people in America are unfortunately shot by police officers. In fact there have been 561 shootings so far. 275 of those deaths were white folks. 136 were black. And 86 were hispanic. I would defy anybody that's paying attention to this stuff to tell me who was the last Hispanic who was killed. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/8/16]

Regular Fox Guest David Clarke: Obama The “Cop-Hater In Chief … Fuels This Sort Of Anger Toward The American Police Officer.” Milwaukee County Sheriff and frequent Fox guest David Clarke called Obama “cop-hater in chief,” and said Obama “didn’t cause” the Dallas shooting but “fuels this sort of anger toward the American police officer,” adding “I wish he’d knock it off.” From the July 8 edition of Fox & Friends:

SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE: I want to know whether we have heard from the cop-hater in chief Obama yet on this? Have we heard from Mrs. Bill Clinton, who threw up the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter yesterday? They exploited a situation, two situations, one in Louisiana and one in Minnesota. Horrible situations, no doubt, but again, especially the commander in chief opens his mouth, and he sticks his foot in it. He starts exploiting things that just don't exist. He has no evidence or data or research to support any disparate treatment by the American police officer, and that's the thing I'm talking about. This is the stuff -- he didn't cause this, but you know what, he fuels this sort of anger, this misplaced anger about things going on that are thousands of miles away. This stuff didn't happen anywhere near Dallas.

[...]

Going back to President Obama. It’s kind of interesting that he said the facts aren’t in. He usually is popping off at the mouth before he’s been briefed or before he knows any of the facts. You know, like he did yesterday without any foundation, he talked about racism and disparate treatment and people of color, all this nonsense like I said. He’s armed with powerful words and he uses those words irresponsibly. It fuels this sort of anger toward the American police officer, and I wish he’d knock it off. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/8/16]

Regular Fox Guest Ron Hosko: “Divider In Chief” Obama “Paint[s] All The Police With The Same Brush And Here Is The Result.” Ron Hosko, a former FBI senior official and the president of the right-wing Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, said, “Our president too often in these police shooting events ... has become the divider in chief.” Hosko asserted Obama and others “paint all the police with the same brush and here is the result.” From the July 8 edition of Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria:

RON HOSKO: I agree with your other panelist, there is failed leadership. I hesitate even to call it leadership. Our president too often in these police shooting events, before an investigation is completed, has become the divider in chief. We saw the governor of Minnesota yesterday, without the first interview being conducted of the shooting up there, grab out for racism. Jesse Jackson Jr. (sic) after the Baton Rouge shooting on a Fox show the other night immediately is grabbing for racism without a shred of evidence of that, and they paint all the police with the same brush and here is the result. [Fox Business, Mornings With Maria, 7/8/16]

Fox Guest William Johnson: “The Obama Administration Is The Neville Chamberlain” Of The “War On Cops.” Fox guest William Johnson of the National Association of Police Organizations called the Obama administration “the Neville Chamberlain” of the “war on cops,” saying “their appeasement of violent criminals, their refusal to condemn movements like Black Lives Matter … all the while blaming police for the problems in this country has led directly to the climate that has made Dallas possible.” From the July 8 edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom:

GREGG JARRETT (HOST): It's a tough day for everybody in America, but especially for law enforcement. Do they increasingly feel under siege and targeted?

WILLIAM JOHNSON: Absolutely. It's a horrible day. It's a war on cops, and the Obama administration is the Neville Chamberlain of this war. I think their continued appeasements at the federal level with the Department of Justice, their appeasement of violent criminals, their refusal to condemn movements like Black Lives Matter, actively calling for the death of police officers, that type of thing, all the while blaming police for the problems in this country has led directly to the climate that has made Dallas possible.

JARRETT: You know, when you hear the president of the United States as you did last night before Dallas events unfolded express on television solidarity with the protesters over what he referred to as chronic racial disparity, the mistreatment of African-Americans at the hands of police, when you hear Mark Dayton, governor of Minnesota --

[...]

JARRETT: Let's put our racial feelings aside, said [House Speaker Paul Ryan]. Juxtapose that to the governor of Minnesota, who condemned the police officer for being racist this week, arguably ginning up racial animus. Clearly, you prefer the former rather than the latter, Bill.



JOHNSON: Well, I think even Speaker Ryan would be better served by trying to pass some legislation to restore defensive gear to police that the president took away through executive order. But I do agree with you, it reminds me of Congressman [Jeff] Sessions' remarks earlier in today's program regarding the violence in the streets in the '60s and '70s against police. But I think one of the big differences then was that you had governors and mayors and the president -- whether it was President Johnson or President Nixon, Republican or Democrat -- condemning violence against the police and urging support for the police. Today that's markedly absent. I think that's a huge difference, and that's directly led to the climate that allows these attacks to happen. [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 7/8/16]

Conservative Media Lash Out At Obama For His Reaction To The Attack

Fox’s Steve Doocy: Obama “Introduc[ed] Politics So Early In The Game” After The Attack. Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy criticized Obama for “talking about people armed with powerful weapons and introducing politics so early in the game” after the Dallas attack. From the July 8 edition of Fox & Friends:

ABBY HUNTSMAN (CO-HOST): This comes, of course, after two black men were shot, as you're referring to, one in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Alton Sterling, one in Minnesota, 32-year-old Philando Castile. And shortly after the one in Minnesota, governor, we heard from the governor there, saying that this would not have happened if he were white. You know how important it is as a governor to speak out after these incidents. What is your reaction to that?

GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: I think that was a very ill-tempered kind of statement for him to make, that it was a racist crime. That's essentially what he said, and I think that's unfair. Abby, your dad was a governor, he was a good friend of mine. I had to carry out the death penalty many, many times as a governor. Hardest part of the job. But I had months to think through every aspect of this case. I read every page of every trial transcript. I had all the opportunities to make sure that I knew that this person was properly adjudicated. What I had weeks and months to do, a cop in the middle of the night in the darkness of night has milliseconds to make. He's got to make a life and death decision and we need to remember that. We ask these guys to do an incredibly difficult thing.

HUNTSMAN: And we’re not always there, we don’t see everything that happens in that moment.

HUCKABEE: We don’t see everything, and look, there needs to be an investigation, but let it happen first.

STEVE DOOCY: Right. Let it happen. Let us gather the facts, but the president of the United States was -- he's in Europe right now. He went to the podium and made some statements. He said it's early, we don't know a lot of the facts but then he was talking about people armed with powerful weapons and introducing politics so early in the game. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/8/16]

Fox Guest David Webb: Obama’s Remarks Were “Insulting, Disgusting, Beneath The Office Of The President.” Fox guest David Webb criticized Obama’s remarks as “insulting, disgusting, [and] beneath the office of the president” because he talked about gun control, saying “the president goes to something which is not relevant to the issue.” From the July 8 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

CLAYTON MORRIS (HOST): The president speaking in Poland a short time ago, saying “we don't have all the facts yet,” but then proceeded to talk about gun control.

DAVID WEBB: Insulting, disgusting, beneath the office of the president. We have dead police officers, families who will find out this morning that their family member is dead. We have a community that's broken. We have concerned citizens who had serious concerns about the shooting of two men, whether -- and we don't know all the facts there, but they are also entitled to have their concerns. And the president goes to something which is not relevant to the issue. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/8/16]

NRA Board Member Allen West: Obama “Rush[es] To Judgment In Castigating Police,”And When He Can’t “He Always Goes To The Ideological Agenda Item, Which Is Guns.” NRA board member Allen West criticized Obama for going “to the ideological agenda item, which is guns,” after the Dallas shooting because the incident did “not fit his narrative that he wants to talk about” of “castigating police in a negative light.” From the July 8 edition of Fox Business’ Varney & Co.:

ALLEN WEST: You know, last week, Friday, I did a night patrol ride along with the Dallas Police Department. And just last night I was at the Northeast Division headquarters, which patrols my area here in Dallas, just giving words of encouragement to those police officers who were, some of them were about to head down to patrol that riot. And when I listen to the words of President Obama just then, after the San Bernardino terrorist attack he blamed guns. After the Orlando terrorist attack he spoke about guns. After this horrific ambush of these Dallas police officers, who were safeguarding Americans exercising their First Amendment rights, he once again talks about guns. But yet if you go all the way back to Lewis Henry Gates and the Cambridge, Massachusetts, incident where he said that police acted stupidly, once again we have a president that seems to always rush to judgment in castigating police in a negative light as he did yesterday in relation to the Louisiana and Minnesota incidents, instead of letting justice play out there, but again when it does not fit his narrative that he wants to talk about, he always goes to the ideological agenda item, which is guns. [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 7/8/16]

Wash. Examiner’s Lisa Boothe: “Sick To My Stomach To See The News Of The #DallasPoliceShooting. I Wish @POTUS Would Seek To Unite The Country Rather Than Further Divide It.”

Sick to my stomach to see the news of the #DallasPoliceShooting. I wish @POTUS would seek to unite the country rather than further divide it

— Lisa Boothe (@LisaMarieBoothe) July 8, 2016

[Twitter, 7/8/16]

Fox Guest Dan Bongino: “I’m Done With President Obama”; “Incredible” That He Discusses Gun Safety Measures. Fox guest Dan Bongino slammed Obama, saying, “I'm done with President Obama, and frankly, so are my law enforcement friends.” From the July 8 edition of Fox & Friends:

ABBY HUNTSMAN (HOST): We’ve just heard from President Obama. Is he saying what you want to hear? Is he comforting them in this time of such uncertainty?

DAN BONGINO: Yeah, I'm done with President Obama, and frankly, so are my law enforcement friends. I literally don't have one law enforcement friend at the federal, state, or local level who has anything nice to say anymore. You know, it's interesting when he gives these speeches, he opens them up by saying the facts matter. Let's wait for the facts. He has no facts on this yet, and he goes right to gun control and says we'll have to address that in the next few days. It's just incredible. And yesterday his speech about the Alton Sterling shooting, which obviously was a horrible incident, but he goes on to say, well this is an American problem. What was an American problem? We don't know what happened. Are we not even willing to give police officers the benefit of the doubt and we’re willing to paint with a broad brush the entire country? He doesn’t even have the facts -- it’s incredible. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/8/16