America
Shootout at police headquarters in Dallas
Washington, June 14 (IANS) A police sniper shot a van
driver who had earlier staged a shooting attack against Dallas police
headquarters that caused no fatalities.
The suspect could be dead, Dallas Police Chief David Brown told a press conference, Efe reported.
Dallas
police, who gave all the details of the shooting on Twitter, said that
after more than four hours without verbal contact, they believe the
suspect is dead.
Nonetheless, special teams of the Dallas police
and the FBI are taking every precaution for fear the vehicle used in the
attack, a van modified with armor plating, might be rigged with
explosives.
At least one armed individual started shooting at
police headquarters in the Texan city of Dallas shortly after midnight
with the intention, according to Brown, of killing as many cops as
possible.
Brown said that fortunately no officer was killed or
wounded, but the shooting left bullet holes on patrol cars and on the
building of police headquarters in downtown Dallas.
The
investigation was focused on a white man who during the succeeding chase
and an attempt at negotiation, identified himself as James Boulware, an
individual with a record of arrests.
The Dallas police chief
said that until the suspect's fingerprints can be obtained, his identity
cannot be truly ascertained and, he added, the attacker may be lying
dead inside his van.
After a spectacular police chase, the
shooter entrenched himself in a parking lot in the nearby city of
Hutchins, where he began a process of negotiation that was going
nowhere, so the cops called on a sniper to take him out.
The
attacker said he had C4 plastic explosives in the van and made threats
against the officers, which, according to Brown, was proof enough that
he was out to kill cops.
At least two explosives were found near
police headquarters. One of the devices was exploded by the bomb squad
and the other was deactivated.