海角大神

Early Saturday morning, Dallas police officers were faced with a hail of gunfire outside their headquarters in a premeditated attack complete with pipe bombs and an armored getaway car, said authorities.聽

While bullets battered a number of squad cars and shattered the police station's glass doors, no officers were injured, said聽Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown.聽鈥淲e barely survived the intent of this suspect... It's been a blessing."

After spraying a steady stream of bullets from multiple angles at the lobby and second floor of the headquarters, the attacker jumped in his van,聽ramming it into a squad car聽and fleeing to a suburban parking lot聽about 13 miles southeast. Officers, who had returned gunfire, weren't far behind. Outside a Jack in the Box in the city of Hutchins, Texas, they cornered the car, launching a standoff that would draw out for several hours into Saturday morning.聽聽

Around 5 a.m., roughly four and a half hours after the attack began on South Lamar Street, a SWAT sniper shot the attacker through the windshield. Police later confirmed his death as they used a bomb squad robot to enter his van, reported聽the Washington Post. They were especially wary because earlier that morning,聽officials had uncovered four bags planted outside the station that contained two pipe bombs, and the shooter had warned police that 鈥渉e had C-4 (military grade explosives) on the van,鈥� said Chief Brown. 鈥淭hat's our biggest concern. We don't want to call his bluff."

On Saturday afternoon, the van聽caught fire and ammunition rounds are going off inside the vehicle, reported the Associated Press.聽Dallas police say in a Twitter post that the fire erupted when they used robots to clear the van of weapons such as pipe bombs.

Brown later announced that that there had been five explosive packages left at headquarters, designed to detonate 鈥渙n touch.鈥� One pipe bomb exploded when a robot picked it up.

It was initially unclear whether there had been one or multiple shooters outside the station, said police, who聽described witness accounts聽of spotting as many as four gunmen. They now believe the suspect, a man who identified himself as James Boulware, acted alone.聽

Police said they could not immediately confirm his identity, but records show that Boulware was previously charged with multiple assault charges two years ago, reported Dallas TV station WFAA. His criminal records indicate he has committed violent acts against family members, including bodily assault and 鈥渋mpeding a family member鈥檚 breath or circulation.鈥� Reports indicate he also had 鈥渁n extensive history鈥� with Child Protective Services.

During negotiations in the standoff, the suspect told officials that he blamed the police for losing custody of his child, becoming 鈥渋ncreasingly angry and threatening鈥� and lapsing into rants, according to WFAA. After a while, he hung up the phone and ended the negotiations.

Dallas police say they had no advance warning of Saturday's attack. But this聽is not, however, the first time law enforcement officials in Texas have been attacked. In January, a teenager in the city of Longview聽was shot after threatening police聽officers with a knife, and in September, a man was聽killed in San Patricio County聽after driving his car into a sheriff鈥檚 office and shooting at the building.

The Dallas attack comes at a time when law enforcement officials often operate in a public climate of suspicion and anger. There have been several "ambush attacks" on police in the US. In March, after two police officers were shot in Ferguson, Mo., 海角大神 wrote: