The lone attacker who ambushed police officers in Dallas on Thursday, killing five and wounding seven others, had no connection to terrorist organizations related influences, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Friday.
"He appears to have been a lone gunman," Johnson told CNN's
Wolf Blitzer of Micah Johnson. "We do not see any connections to any foreign or international terrorist organization or any inspiration from them.
"We'll learn a lot more about this individual in the coming days," Jeh Johnson added. "At the moment, we don't see any links to any foreign terrorist organization."
Micah Johnson, 25, an Army reservist who spent a year in Afghanistan, fired shots from a high-powered rifle at the end of a rally in downtown Dallas Thursday night.
The rally was in protest of police killings of African-American men by police in Baton Rouge, La., and just outside St. Paul, Minn.
He told police officers that he was interested in killing white people and especially white police officers in response to the shootings.
Johnson was later killed by a robot carrying a remote-controlled bomb after firing at authorities.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Friday that Johnson acted alone, describing him as a "mobile shooter who had written manifestos on how to shoot and move, shoot and move — and he did that.
"He did his damage, but we did damage to him, as well," Rawlings said at a news conference.
"We believe now that the city is safe and the suspect is dead and we can move on to healing."
Secretary Johnson told Blitzer that "just like the murderer who killed five police officers does not represent the broader movement of those who want to see change in certain police practices, the actions of a few police officers that caused people concern do not represent the broader law-enforcement community that is there to protect and to serve us.
"Violence never works. Violence should never be condoned. It's never sanctioned. It never leads to positive change.
"This individual was deranged," Johnson said of the Dallas perpetrator. "He had a hatred. He thought he could accomplish something, but I suspect we'll see the Dallas community coming together in light of what happened here.
"Communities working overtime to keep them safe."
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