President Obama on Friday denounced an attack that took the lives of five police officers in Dallas and wounded at least six more as a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement” that has no justification.
“We still don’t know all the facts – what we do know is that there has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement,” he said at the beginning of a NATO summit meeting in Poland. “Police in Dallas were on duty doing their jobs keeping people safe in peaceful protests.”
Calling the slayings “a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices they make for us,” Obama said he wanted to be clear: “There is no possible justification for these kinds of attacks or any violence against law enforcement.”
“The police community across America feels this loss to their core – I would ask all Americans to say a prayer for these officers and their families,” he said.
The president also said the coordinated sniper attack against police officers at the end of a protest over the killing of two black men by police in other cities shows that “people armed with powerful weapons unfortunately makes attacks like these more deadly.”
In the days and weeks ahead, he suggested that the nation would have to come to terms with the role these weapons played in the attack as “we learn more” about the “twisted motivations” of the killers.
Obama Thursday night attributed the police killing of the two black men that spurred the violent reaction in Dallas as “symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities” within the United States and said all Americans should be “troubled” by their deaths.
Just hours later, after nearly a dozen officers were gunned down in Dallas, the worst mass shooting against law enforcement in U.S. history, Obama referred to his comments the night before. While he noted that he had stressed the need for Americans to be concerned about racial disparities in the killing of the two black men, he also said he urged the country to appreciate the “extraordinarily difficult job” that police have and the need for Americans to “be supportive of the officers” who protect them and their communities every day.
“I believe I speak for every single American when I say we are horrified over these events, and we stand united with the people and the police departments in Dallas,” he said.
Citing police, Obama said there are multiple suspects and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Anyone involved in the senseless murders will be held fully accountable,” he said. “Justice will be done.”
Obama said his team has been keeping him updated about the attacks and he spoke to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to “convey the deepest condolences of the American people.
“The federal government will provide whatever assistance Dallas may need as it deals with this tremendous tragedy,” he said.
