Gun, bomb attack at Dallas police HQs: 1 killed

A man suspected of attacking setting off bombs outside the Dallas Police headquarters and spraying the building with gunfire in the early hours of Saturday was shot and possibly killed by snipers a few hours later, police said. Dallas Police Chief David Brown said police snipers shot the suspect through the windshield of a van in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant about 10 miles (16 kilometres) south of the city. A robot would be deployed to check the van for explosives before officers go to see whether the man is dead, he said. In a Twitter feed, police said the suspect was believed to have been killed. "There has been no contact with the suspect in over 4 hours - believe it likely that he is deceased," the police said in a tweet. "We've opened the windshield and will utilize an explosive 'water charge' to render any explosives inside inert," the police said in a separate posting on Twitter. They said they would not go into the vehicle until they were sure there were no explosive devices rigged to it. Small explosions were heard near the vehicle, likely set off by police trying to gain entry, media at the scene reported. The suspect appeared to be a man who had blamed authorities for losing custody of his son, who is now in middle school. Dallas resident Ben Sotheby, 56, watched from behind the barricades as police patrolled the area near headquarters. "It wasn't real smart to shoot up the place where all the cops are at. You'll get yourself killed that way," he said. No one else was believed to have been hurt in the attack which happened at around 12:30am (2.30am EDT/0630 GMT) after police responded to reports of automatic gunfire from what was described as an armored van outside their headquarters, according to Reuters.