Department of Justice holds press conference on deadly Dallas ambush

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Friday, July 8, 2016
Police tape marks off the area where a shooting took place in downtown Dallas.
LM Otero/AP Photo

DALLAS, TXexas -- Dallas was in shock and beset by uncertainty early Friday after gunmen shot and killed five police officers and wounded seven during a peaceful protest over fatal police shootings of black men in other states, police said, in bloodshed evoking the trauma of the nation's tumultuous civil rights era.

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The Department of Justice held a news conference Friday, with Attorney General Loretta Lynch addressing the ambush.

VIDEO: Chief Brown describes sniper suspect's motives

Dallas Police Chief David Brown says a sniper killed in a parking garage discussed his motive for the ambush downtown

Search warrants are being executed now at the Johnson family home.

"The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about the recent shootings," Brown says. "The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people and especially white officers."

"The suspect stated (police officers) will eventually find the IEDs. The suspect stated he was not affiliated with any groups and he stated that he did this alone."

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Brown also said the alleged motive was not "a reason or legitimate reason to do harm to anyone."

The incident marks the deadliest day for law enforcement since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. It also drew a comparison with the November day in 1963 when a U.S. president was slaughtered by a sniper on a Dallas street only a few blocks away.

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Emergency responder vehicles sit outside of the emergency room at Baylor University Medical Center
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

"We don't exactly know the last moments of his death but explosives did blast him out," Rawlings told The Associated Press.

He said police swept the area where the standoff took place and found no explosives.

Click here for full coverage on the deadly Dallas police officer shootings.

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