Dallas College Police Chief Outlines Path of Killer
The walkthrough was the first time the public had access to the area.
Officials with El Centro College are releasing more details about the tragic ambush of police officers July 7 that partially took place on their campus.
El Centro College Police Chief Joseph Hannigan walked members of the media through the parts of campus where the incident took place July 19.
The shooting began with Micah Johnson exchanging gunfire with campus police outside of the school’s glass doors facing Lamar Street around 9 p.m., reports fox4news.com.
In that exchange, injuries were sustained by two El Centro campus police officers. Cpl. Bryan Shaw, who shot at Johnson, was struck by a bullet, and Officer John Abbott’s legs were injured by flying glass. Both men’s injuries were non-life threatening and they assisted other victims that night.
Johnson then entered the university building and ran up a staircase toward the library, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
“As soon as my detective opened the metal door to enter the stairwell, he was met with a round of gunfire,” Hannigan explains. “About eight or nine shots were fired at him as he backed out of the stairwell.”
Johnson then ran through the library and into a second-floor hallway with windows.
“This is where he engaged police officers that were on Elm Street,” Hannigan explains. “They were hiding behind their police cars and he was shooting at anybody that moved. You’ll also notice across the street the 7-11 is boarded up, he shot those windows out as well.”
As Johnson shot at the officers, other police began closing in on his position in the hallway.
“He knew we were coming after him,” Hannigan says. “Dallas police were coming after him. He knew not to stay in this place for too long.”
Johnson then fled and barricaded himself in a room with computer servers, where he shot at police and negotiated with law enforcement officials for hours.
Police evacuated the building on the floors above and below Johnson, eventually deploying a drone with a pound of C4 attached to enter the barricaded area and kill Johnson.
“I thought it was a good job,” Hannigan says of the response. “I thought it was very ingenious, and it was a smart way to end what could have been a lot worse.”
It’s clear the road to recovery for El Centro will be a difficult one. Bullet holes still riddle the stairwell. Pieces of the hallway ceiling and glass still line the floors. The FBI took some chunks of the floor out for evidence.
Still, administrators have expressed appreciation for the outpouring of support they’ve received in the days since the incident. Classes will begin again in the building July 21. El Centro President Paul McCarthy says the school plans to build a tribute to the fallen officers as well.
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