Dallas police chief: We won’t let a coward change our democracy

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said that the shooting during a massive demonstration Thursday night should not affect citizens’ right to protest.

{mosads}“We are not going to let a coward who would ambush police officers change our democracy,” he said during a press conference Friday morning. “We are not gonna do it. Our city, our country, is better than that.”

“Police are guardians of this great democracy,” he said earlier in the briefing. “Freedom to protest, freedom of speech, freedom for expression — all freedoms we fight for with our lives. It’s what makes us who we are as Americans.”

“We risk our lives for those rights. We won’t militarize our policing standards.”

Five police officers were killed and seven others injured when at least one shooter opened fire during the demonstration, which was held to protest the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philado Castille, two black men killed by police in separate incidents this week.

Three suspects are in custody, and the shooter was killed by a police-detonated bomb following an hourslong standoff.