Killings of black men by US police officers lead to ‘revenge’ shootings across America

REPORTED BY KALAHAN DENG

The killings of black men by American police have left the country on edge.

There have been several separate incidents of black men shooting at white police officers and citizens across the country.

At least one of these shootings is thought to be directly connected to anger among black communities at the shooting dead of two black men by police officers earlier this week.

On Thursday night, Micah Johnson, an Army reservist, shot dead five police officers at a Dallas protest march and wounded seven others.

A man accused of shooting indiscriminately at passing cars and police on a Tennessee highway on Thursday morning told investigators he was angry about police violence against African-Americans.

One woman died and three others, including one police officer, were injured in the rampage.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a news release that initial conversations with the suspect, 37-year-old Lakeem Keon Scott, revealed he was troubled by several incidents across the US.

Scott, who is black, was wounded in the shootout with police. He remains hospitalised and has not yet been charged. All those shot were white, police confirmed.

A gunman in a passing vehicle opened fire on a police officer on patrol in Georgia in the early hours of Friday morning. He is expected to be charged with aggravated assault against the officer, authorities said. A suspect was apprehended after a short car chase and was in custody.

The shooting happened in Roswell, a city just north of Atlanta, only hours after the Dallas sniper attack and officers were already on edge, said local Detective Zachary Frommer.

The 21-year-old suspect was being questioned by detectives on Friday. Police do not know the motive. Asked whether the shooting might be related to the Texas attacks, Frommer said: “Nothing right now says that it is or isn’t.”

In a separate incident in Georgia, a man phoned 911 to report a break-in, then ambushed and shot the officer who came to investigate.

Stephen Paul Beck called the emergency services, saying that his car had been broken into on Friday morning. Officer Randall Hancock went to investigate and police say Beck shot at him as soon as he got out of his car.

He was hit twice in his protective vest and once underneath the vest in his abdomen in the shooting which took place in Valdosta, just north of the Georgia-Florida state line.