Boston Police Send Thoughts and Prayers to Dallas After Deadly Sniper Shooting

Snipers killed at least five officers from elevated positions after a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest, police say.

Update: Friday, 9:40 a.m.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the Dallas shooting:

My thoughts are with the Dallas officers who were killed last night, and their families, and I’m praying for fast recovery for the injured. I unequivocally condemn violence against law enforcement officers. Whatever motivated this horrific attack, we should do all we can as a community and a nation to prevent it from inflaming existing tensions around police interactions. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, violence solves no problem but is “a descending spiral ending in destruction for all.” We can and we must work together to end all the deadly violence afflicting our country.

Flags at all BPD facilities will be lowered to half-mast as a sign of solidarity with Dallas, police tweeted.

Previously:

Snipers opened fire on police officers in downtown Dallas Thursday night during a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest over the recent police shooting deaths of two black men in Minnesota and Louisiana. At least five officers are dead and seven are injured as of Friday morning, along with two injured civilians.

While the names of the Dallas Police officers killed in the attack have not yet been released, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Police identified 43-year-old officier Brent Thompson among those dead, marking the first time since the department’s formation in 1989 that an officer has been killed in the line of duty. “Our hearts are broken,” DART said in a statement.

Boston Police tweeted their condolences to their colleagues in Dallas early Friday morning.

State Police and MBTA Transit Police offered their prayers as well.

Campus police across the city, including MIT Police, who lost Officer Sean Collier in the wake of the 2013 Marathon bombing, also expressed their support for Dallas police.