Page 8A
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Friday, July 8, 2016
Four oficers killed, seven injured at protest
By TERRY WALLACE
Associated Press
DALLAS — At least two
snipers opened ire on police
oficers in Dallas on Thursday
night, killing four oficers and
injuring seven others during
protests over two recent fatal
police shootings of black
men, police said.
Dallas Police Chief David
Brown told reporters the
snipers ired “ambush style”
upon the oficers. Mayor
Mike Rawlings said one
member of the public was
wounded in the gunire.
Police later said in a
statement that a suspect was
is in custody and a “person
of interest” had surrendered.
They said a suspicious
package was being secured
by a bomb squad.
The gunire broke out
around 8:45 p.m. Thursday
while hundreds of people
were gathered to protest fatal
police shootings this week in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and
suburban St. Paul, Minne-
sota.
The protests in Dallas
were among several across
the country that were held
after a Minnesota oficer
on Wednesday fatally shot
Philando Castile while he was
in a car with a woman and
a child in a St. Paul suburb.
The aftermath of the shooting
was livestreamed in a widely
shared Facebook video. A day
earlier, Alton Sterling was
shot in Louisiana after being
pinned to the pavement by
two white oficers. That, too,
was captured on a cellphone
video.
Video footage from the
scene showed that protesters
were marching along a street
in downtown, about half a
mile from City Hall, when the
shots erupted and the crowd
scattered, seeking cover.
Maria R. Olivas/The Dallas Morning News via AP
Dallas police respond after shots were ired during a
protest over recent fatal shootings by police in Louisi-
ana and Minnesota, Thursday in Dallas.
Brown said that it
appeared
the
shooters
“planned to injure and kill as
many oficers as they could.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
released a statement saying
he has directed the Texas
Department of Public Safety
director to offer “whatever
assistance the City of Dallas
needs at this time.”
“In times like this we must
remember — and emphasize
— the importance of uniting
as Americans,” Abbott said.
The search for the
shooters stretched throughout
downtown, an area of hotels,
restaurants, businesses and
some residential apartments.
The scene was chaotic,
with helicopters hovering
overhead and oficers with
automatic riles on the street
corners.
“Everyone just started
running,” Devante Odom,
21, told The Dallas Morning
News. “We lost touch with
two of our friends just trying
to get out of there.”
Carlos Harris, who lives
downtown told the news-
paper that the shooters “were
strategic. It was tap tap pause.
Tap tap pause.”
Demonstrator Brittaney
Peete told The Associated
Press that she didn’t hear
the gunshots, but she “saw
people rushing back toward
me saying there was an active
shooter.”
Peete said she saw a
woman trip and nearly get
trampled.
Other protests across
the U.S. on Thursday were
peaceful.
In
midtown
Manhattan, protesters irst
gathered in Union Square
Park where they chanted
“The people united, never be
divided!” and “What do we
want? Justice. When do we
want it? Now!”
Ting Shen/The Dallas Morning News via AP
A Dallas Area Rapid Transit police oficer receives comfort at the Baylor University
Hospital emergency room entrance Thursday in Dallas.
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Shooting of ‘Mr. Phil’
shocks colleagues at
Minnesota school
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
Associated Press
Philando Castile put on a
suit and tie to interview for
a supervisory position in the
school district where he had
worked since he was a teen-
ager. He told the interviewer
his goal was to one day “sit
on the other side of this
table.”
His upbeat disposition
won him the job.
“He stood out because
he was happy, friendly and
related to people well,” said
Katherine Holmquist-Burks,
principal at J.J. Hill Montes-
sori in St. Paul, Minnesota,
who hired him to oversee the
school cafeteria.
Now, colleagues and
family members are trying
to understand why a police
oficer in a St. Paul suburb
fatally shot Castile, 32, after
stopping his car Wednesday
night. The Justice Department
announced it would monitor
the state investigation of the
shooting, which Gov. Mark
Dayton said would look at
whether Castile’s race played
a role. Castile was black.
A passenger in the car,
Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond
Reynolds, said the oficer
was Asian. She said he
opened ire when Castile
reached for his identiication.
She said Castile had a license
to carry a irearm.
Castile graduated from
Central High School in St.
Paul in 2001 and joined the
school district’s Nutrition
Services Department when
he was 19. He worked at
two schools before getting
his promotion at J.J. Hill in
2014.
Students at the magnet
school came to know him as
“Mr. Phil,” a gregarious man
who sneaked students extra
graham crackers and other
treats in the lunch line.
“He always gave you
a high-ive after lunch,”
9-year-old Jas Gilman said.
Holmquist-Burks, who
retired last week, said he
loved his job and never
missed work or drew a
complaint. Castile super-
vised two employees and ran
the cafeteria for a school with
530 students and 85 staff.
He helped “create a warm,
welcoming friendly environ-
ment in our cafeteria,” she
AP Photo/Jim Mone
A man displays his
thoughts where hundreds
gathered at the JJ Hill
Montesorri School Thurs-
day in St. Paul, Minn. for a
vigil following the shoot-
ing death by police of Phi-
lando Castile Wednesday
night in Falcon Heights,
Minn. after a trafic stop
for a broken tail light by
St. Anthony police.
said.
Holmquist-Burks
said
that after she heard about
Castile’s death, she went to
the vigil being held at the
governor’s mansion.
“I want his name
respected,” she said. “He was
not a bad person. He was a
great person. He was a warm
person and a gentle spirit.
This was a tragedy that he
was murdered.”
A cellphone video shot
by Reynolds immediately
after the oficer opened ire
indicated the oficer may
have believed Castile was
reaching for a weapon.
Castile got a license to
carry a irearm “for safety,”
said Dewanda Harris, 52,
Castile’s cousin. Harris, of
Glendale, Arizona, said she
watched Castile grow up in
St. Paul alongside her son,
who was about the same age.
Of the gun, she said, “I
discussed it with my son and
he began to tell me about
them going to the gun range.
All of them got licenses to
carry,” Harris said of Castile
and other family members.
“All of them do. They got it
to protect themselves.”
Harris said Castile would
not have posed a threat.
“I know he was doing the
right thing. Phil was a good
kid. I’m stunned by this,” she
said.
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