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.