TIME TO HEAL - Mayor says Dallas is safe after deadly attack on cops

Dallas, Texas (AP):

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says authorities believe a 25-year-old suspect in the attack that killed five police officers and wounded seven others was the lone attacker and that the United States city is safe.

At a news conference on Friday, Rawlings said that he believes the city can start healing now.

Police killed the suspect, Micah Xavier Johnson, using a robot-delivered bomb after they say negotiations with him failed. Two civilians were also wounded.

Governor Greg Abbott says that although investigators believe Johnson was the only gunman, he thinks it's imperative to make sure that there weren't any co-conspirators or people who may have known in advance about the attack.

Yesterday, religious leaders held an interfaith prayer vigil for the victims in the attack on Dallas police officers.

Speakers called for healing and for improvements in the way police and the public interact.

Pastor T.D. Jakes said those who gathered on Friday at Thanks-Giving Square in downtown Dallas "cannot be oblivious to the plight of this nation". He referenced incidents in Ferguson, Missouri; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and others in which black men were killed by white officers.

SLAIN SUSPECT A LONER

Dallas police say the slain suspect in the killings of five police officers had bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition, and a personal journal of combat tactics at his home.

They also say that people they interviewed have described 25-year-old Micah Johnson as a loner.

Police say officers have been targeted in Tennessee, Georgia, and Missouri in the aftermath of two high-profile killings of black men by law-enforcement officers.

The attack in Tennessee occurred hours before the killings of five police officers in Dallas on Thursday night during a protest. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says the attacker told authorities that he was frustrated by the recent killings by police of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Police have not disclosed a motive in Friday's attacks in Georgia and Missouri, which have been described as ambushes.

In a fourth attack early on Friday, a motorist fired at a police car as the officer drove by. In all, four officers were wounded. The officer wounded outside St. Louis is in critical but stable condition. The wounded officers are expected to survive.