Officers kill gunman firing on Dallas federal courthouse; news photographer snaps photos
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Federal officers shot and killed a gunman firing on the federal courthouse in Dallas on Monday morning.
A photographer for the Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox, snapped photos of the gunman after he briefly stopped firing to pick something off the street, the Morning News reports. The Dallas Police Department is tweeting about the incident here.
No one besides the gunman was hurt. Security personnel in the courthouse, the Earle Cabell Federal Building, pushed everyone to the ground.
The gunman was wearing a ski mask, combat gear and glasses. He was carrying an assault rifle. He was identified as 22-year-old Brian Isaack Clyde.
Fox told the Dallas Morning News he was waiting outside the courthouse to get a photo of a defendant when he heard a bang-bang-bang that sounded like shots. Fox crouched on the sidewalk to began taking photos.
“I pulled up my long lens and saw someone who I realized was the shooter,” Fox told the newspaper. “And I think, ‘Oh my God.’ I squeezed off a few frames as he picked something up—a clip, I think—and then I turned and ran.”
Fox feared he would be shot in the back, so he hid behind a column of the building facade. The gunman began to fire into the glass doorways of the building.
“I’ll never forget the sound of those repeated firing and all that glass shattering. It seemed like forever before I heard return gunfire,” Fox said.
Police detonated a device found in Clyde’s parked car. According to the Morning News, the blast was strong enough to shake several sapling trees blocks away.
Clyde is an Army veteran who attended Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, the Dallas Morning News reports in a separate article. He posted photos of ammunition magazines on Facebook on Saturday. On June 9, the day of a violent Dallas storm, Clyde posted content to Facebook of himself illuminated by candlelight.
“I don’t know how much longer I have, but the [expletive] storm is coming. However, I’m not without defense,” he said as he held up what appeared to be a rifle wrapped in duct tape. “[Expletive] ready. Let’s do it.”
Updated June 17 at 3:10 p.m. with additional information about Clyde. Updated on June 18 to include information from Fox’s interview.
