Armed Forces News

Three of the five Dallas police officers who died at the hands of a gunman July 7 were military veterans. Sgt. Michael Smith, a 27-year veteran of the force, had served in the Army. He is survived by a wife and two daughters. Officer Patricio E. Zamarripa, a Navy veteran, is survived by a wife, daughter and stepson. Officer Brent Alan Thompson of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Police Department, a Marine Corps veteran, is survived by a wife, daughter, and granddaughter. The shooter was identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite, Texas, who had served in Afghanistan with the Army. He was killed by a robot-borne bomb during negotiations with police. The officers had been on duty during protests that took place in Dallas after incidents in Baton Rouge, La., and Falcon Heights, Minn., in which video cameras captured the slayings of two African-American men by police officers in those cities. During negotiations, Johnson revealed that he had deliberately targeted white police officers.