Dallas police say search ends for ‘suspicious person’ near HQ
Threats made against law enforcement throughout US in wake of Thursday’s slaying of five officers in Texas
The Dallas Police Department announced it had concluded a search of a parking garage adjacent to its headquarters, declaring it free of any “suspicion person.”
The search, which included blocking off nearby streets and saw numerous police vehicles and armed officers outside, according to local reporters, highlighted tensions in the Texas metropolis after Thursday’s slayings of five police officers.
Cruisers still cordoned off 20 square downtown blocks where an Army reservist, Micah Johnson, killed the officers in a sniper attack.
The attack came during a protest rally against police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Mississippi last week.
Outside the headquarters building Saturday, officers patrolled in helmets carrying rifles.
Search has concluded.
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) July 10, 2016
Out of an abundance of caution, officers searched the garage to ensure reports of a suspicious person was thoroughly investigated.
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) July 10, 2016
Maj. Thomas Castro said several general threats have been made against Dallas police, though no specific threat was being investigated.
A Dallas police spokeswoman said earlier Saturday that the department received an anonymous threat against law enforcement across the city and has tightened security. Dallas Police Department spokeswoman Sr. Cpl. Monica Cordova has called all the measures “precautionary.”
Local reporters mistakenly said shots were fired at the Dallas PD’s headquarters Saturday evening from the nearby parking garage. A tweet from the police said the report was false, and that the sound of an explosion was due to a SWAT team using an explosive to break through a fence.
Police were searching the garage for a “suspicious person,” the department said.
There has been media reports of shots fired at police HQ, there has been NO shots fired. SWAT set off a device to enter a locked fence.
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) July 9, 2016
Officers are searching the police parking garage for a suspicious person.
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) July 9, 2016
Officers are planning to breach a lock door in the garage with a shotgun.
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) July 9, 2016
An armored vehicle was moved close to the department’s downtown headquarters late Saturday afternoon and heavily armed officers were seen walking nearby. But members of the public were still able to walk about freely around the building.
Other departments around the country have been receiving threats.
The police department in the Gulf Coast town of Waveland, Mississippi, is among those on alert after receiving what authorities there deem credible threats against officers.
Police Chief David Allen told The Sun Herald newspaper that the threats had come via phone and social media and involved possible gunfire attacks Saturday night and Sunday. Extra police were to be on duty during the weekend.
Officials have also notified surrounding police agencies, fire departments and emergency medical services.
Meanwhile, police in Missouri are asking for help from anyone who witnessed an officer being shot.
St. Louis County police spokesman Officer Benjamin Granda said Saturday in an email that investigators believe several people were “driving or running” nearby when the Ballwin officer was shot during a traffic stop Friday. He asks that witnesses call the department.
County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch says the officer was “ambushed” during a traffic stop when he was shot at least once from behind.
Granda also says the officer, who hasn’t been identified, remained in critical condition Saturday.
Thirty-one-year-old Antonio Taylor is in custody and charged with assault of a police officer, armed criminal action and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Several people around the country have been arrested for making threats against law enforcement in the days since the killings in Dallas.
A suburban Chicago woman is accused of posting a threat on Facebook to shoot any police officer who pulls her over and asks her to get out of the car.
Police in Louisiana say a man was jailed after posting a social media video in which he says he wants to shoot and kill a police officer. Police in Bossier (BOH’-zhur) say the man made the video while sitting in a car that was behind a police unit at a fast-food drive-thru.
And in Racine, Wisconsin, police say they arrested a man who posted calls for black men to kill white police officers and their families.
