Dallas shootings: Dallas gunman Micah Johnson ‘prepared larger attack’

US: Micah Xavier Johnson, 25 the gunman who shot dead five police officers in Dallas and wounded seven others was planning an even larger attack, because he was angry with the recent killings of black men by police and wanted to kill white officers said Dallas police police chief.

The army vet opened fire with a powerful rifle during a peaceful protest last week Thursday evening in Dallas against the shooting and deaths of two black men just days earlier in Louisiana and Minnesota.

According to sources, details have emerged of Johnson's online history which revealed his obsession with Rodney King and Martin Luther King's assassination and how he followed websites that focused on injustices committed on the black community in the US.

The source also disclosed that Johnson visited and liked several websites dedicated to Black Lives Matter and the New Black Panthers, and other hate groups.One of Johnson's friend told CNN Johnson would repeatedly watch the beating of Rodney King.

“He was an expert on the history of the Martin Luther King assassination,” the friend said.

“And he studied Malcolm X.”

He also claim Johnson had issues controlling his temper.

“He was a good black man with a little bit of an anger problem.”

The report also revealed that Johnson liked a post on the African American Defense League Facebook page, which stated:

“The Pig has shot and killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana!: You and I know what we must do and I don’t mean marching, making a lot of noise, or attending conventions. We must “Rally The Troops!” It is time to visit Louisiana and hold a barbeque. The highlight of our occasion will be to sprinkle Pigs Blood!”

Johnson's interest in such websites led experts thinking if he was radicalised online.

Releasing frightening details of the attack by Johnson, Dallas Police chief David Brown said he was “convinced” Johnson had broader plans.

Brown said he goaded police as he negotiated with them during an hours long standoff — “playing games, laughing at us, singing” — asking how many cops he had killed and saying he wanted to take out more.

And at one point, Johnson, who was wounded, wrote “RB” with his own blood on a wall at the community college where he holed up during the shooting but Brown said it was not clear what those letters meant.

Johnson, who was black, also insisted on speaking only to a black police officer when he began negotiating with the police, Brown said.

A search of Johnson’s home in Dallas after he was killed by police discovered bomb-making materials and a manual in which he wrote about military tactics.

Police now believe he had been planning something long beforehand, and that the two killings last week were a trigger that prompted him to act, Brown said.

Brown said;

Investigators believe “based on evidence of bomb-making materials and a journal that the suspect had been practising explosive detonations and that the materials were such that it was large enough to have devastating effects throughout our city and our north Texas area,” 

“We’re convinced that this suspect had other plans,” he added.

 “And we believe that the deaths in Minnesota and the deaths in Louisiana just sparked his delusion to fast-track his plans and saw the protest in Dallas as an opportunity to begin wreaking havoc on our officers,” Brown said.

Johnson who had served in Afghanistan was a private in the army reserve and knew the path of the Dallas march.

His military training evidently helped him during the shooting, as he effectively triangulated police, taking them out with his high caliber rifle, Brown said.