The Department of Justice, including the FBI, ATF, the U.S. Marshal Service and the U.S. Attorney's office are all in Dallas, working closely with state and local counterparts as the community recovers from the the deadly sniper shootings that killed five police officers who were shot as a Black Lives Matter protest march came to an end Thursday night, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Friday.
"Our thoughts and our prayers and condolences go out to the families of those who have lost loved ones," Lynch said in a
press statement. "We intend to provide any assistance that we can to investigate this attack and also to help heal a community that has been severely shaken and deeply scarred by an unfathomable tragedy."
The investigation is still unfolding, said Lynch, so further information will come out as it is available and appropriate, but more so, she said, "this has been a week of profound grief and heart breaking loss."
The peaceful protest in Dallas, she said, was lodged in response to the deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota.
"We've opened a civil rights investigation in Louisiana and we're providing assistance to local authorities in Minnesota who were leading the investigation there," said Lynch. She noted that officers names will be released as their families are notified.
So far, the names of Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Police Department officer Brent Thompson and Dallas Police officer Patrick Zamarripa have been released, according to
USA Today.
Americans are feeling a sense of helplessness and fear, Lynch said Friday, and those feelings "are understandable and they are justified, but the answer must not be violence."
"The answer is never violence," said Lynch. "Rather, the answer, our answer, all our answers must be action, calm, peaceful, collaborative, and determined action."
Work must continue to build trust between communities and law enforcement, said Lynch, and to guarantee all people in the United States equal justice under the law.
"We must take a hard look at the ease with which wrongdoers can get their hands on deadly weapons and the frequency with which they use them," said Lynch. "And we must reflect on the kind of country that we want to build and the kind of society that we are choosing to pass on to our children."
Americans share a common land and a common life, she said, and "those we've lost this week have come from different backgrounds, different neighborhoods, but today, they're mourned by officers, by residents, by family and friends, by men and women and children who loved them, who needed them, and who will miss them always," said Lynch, promising that the US government will "continue to safeguard your constitutional rights and to work with you in the difficult mission of building a better nation and a brighter future."
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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