The feeling in Dallas today is similar to that after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Friday morning, just hours Thursday night's police shootings that left
five law enforcement officers dead and six wounded.
"It does have a very strange feel to it," Paxton told
CNN's "New Day" program, speaking on concerns that the shootings were an ambush during protests of the shooting deaths of two black men over the past two days.
"There's something missing here. Obviously, there's a lot of information we don't have. But it also, Dallas had a tragedy when President Kennedy was shot here in the '60s. This is as close to that feeling, I think, as the city's had in decades."
Paxton said the city's fallen heroes and their families will not be forgotten, but there is still much that is not known because the deaths are under investigation.
"The Dallas Police Department is primarily responsible for the investigation," Paxton said. "My office is assisting them. So as we find out details that we can release, we'll let you know more."
A suspect in the shootings is dead, and Dallas Police Chief told
CNN that that person told negotiators that the "end is coming."
"The suspect at the garage also told negotiators more officers are going to get hurt, and that bombs are planted all over downtown Dallas," Brown said.
Police are taking the threats very seriously, Paxton said Friday.
"I think they were searching potentially for explosives," said Paxton. "They were searching for other suspects and other shooters. If you come to downtown right now, you're going to see hundreds of policemen. I used to work down here, two blocks from where I'm at now.
"It's very surreal to be in this location now and to see how downtown Dallas has transformed into a massive crime scene that is still active."
Paxton said there is not much known about the suspects or their affiliations, and he has not been told by Dallas police or his own investigators anything new on that issue.
He said he believes the shootings will have a "profound effect on the people of Dallas and north Texas for a long time to come. Obviously we have some healing, we're going to have to help these families, but it is significant to us. It is painful, but we will rebound and we will again encourage these families."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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