Three Dead, Two Hurt in Courthouse Shooting; Police Describe Gunman's Taunts, Message in Blood; Dallas Police Chief to Protesters: 'We're Hiring'
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. Courthouse shooting. Two court bailiffs are dead. Two other people are injured after gunfire erupts at a Michigan courthouse. We're learning more details about what happened. Gunman's arsenal. New and troubling details emerging about the weapons amassed by the sniper who targeted Dallas police. Tonight, as police download body-camera video of the attack, we're learning more about the gunman's time in the U.S. military and his visits to hate- filled racially-charged web sites. And for the first time, his parents are now speaking out. In the streets after a weekend that saw hundreds of arrests, demonstrators once against take to the streets, demanding change in how police treat African-Americans. And law and order candidate. Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail, promising to make America safe again, while also calling himself the candidate of compassion. Is he capitalizing on the aftermath of a deadly week? I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in</s>THE SITUATION ROOM. ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>BLITZER: There's breaking news coming in from Michigan, where at least three people are dead, two others are injured after gunfire at a courthouse in the western Michigan city of St. Joseph. An undersheriff tells CNN two court bailiffs and the suspect are dead. Also tonight, dramatic new details of the standoff between Dallas police and the gunman who killed five officers. We now know that, after police cornered him, Micah Xavier Johnson sang and laughed at officers and scrawled a final cryptic message in his own blood. Police also say that, given the weapons and bomb-making material he had amassed, the bloodshed could have been much worse. We're also getting new information about the attacker's visits to websites run by organizations that are considered hate groups, including one that called for attacks on police because of two police shootings of African-Americans earlier in the week. And in the wake of the Dallas attack as well as nationwide protests over two deadly shootings involving police and African-Americans, Donald Trump is taking a tough new tone out there on the campaign trail. He's calling himself the law and order candidate. The head of the NAACP, Cornell William Brooks, he's standing by live to take our questions. And our correspondents, analysts and guests, they will have full coverage of all the day's top stories. Let's get right to the breaking news. First, though, Brian Todd is monitoring new reports coming in from that Michigan courthouse shooting. Brian, what happened?</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, just a short time ago, the sheriff of Berrien County, Michigan, Paul Bailey, told reporters that the scene is secured, the courthouse secured, and the scene is rendered safe. Now, just a short time ago, we talked to Sheriff Bailey or his office gave us some information. They said that two bailiffs and a suspect were shot and killed at the courthouse there in Berrien County. That is located in the town of St. Joseph in the southwest corner of Michigan. The undersheriff tells CNN one civilian and another officer were wounded in this incident. There could, however, be more civilians hurt. We'll get to that in a moment. A short time ago I spoke with Chris Gautz, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Corrections. They run a probation office inside that courthouse. Gautz told me one of their employees, a female probation agent, was in or near a third-floor courtroom in that building when the gunman ran right past her and some other people. Gautz is not sure if their agent actually witnessed this shooting. But it's his understanding, again, that this happened either inside or very near a courtroom on the third floor of that building. Berrien County Sheriff Paul Bailey told reporters a short time ago that, quote, "brave officers" were able to interne and to take the shooter down. Bailey says a deputy sheriff is now in stable condition, and he said there are, quote, "several other people" in stable condition. One thing we just got from the Lakeland Medical Center in St. Joseph: that that officer is being treated at that center, along with several civilians. That is from the Lakeland Health media specialist Jessica Hines. But key questions right now at this hour: How did that shooter get a gun if this, indeed, did occur inside the courthouse? We know its courthouses are very secure. They check everybody for weapons. Did the shooter grab a weapon from law enforcement officers? That's a key question. Sheriff Bailey says that his office, plus the local homicide task force, St. Joseph's Public Safety Department, Michigan State Police and the FBI will investigate just how that suspect got their hands on that weapon, Wolf. That's a key question tonight. And as we know right now, two bailiffs and the suspect shot and killed in this shootout...</s>BLITZER: Two other people...</s>TODD: ... inside the courthouse. Yes. At least two people injured, possibly several more. That's a little unclear.</s>BLITZER: Brian Todd, thanks for that report. Let's get to the dramatic revelations today about the deadly standoff between Dallas police and the sniper who killed five officers. Our national correspondent Kyung Lah is on the scene for us in Dallas right now. Kyung, police say the gunman had so many weapons, the death toll could have been much worse.</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Because these are very high- powered rifles. There was a rifle that he was using that, unfortunately, has really become the norm in these mass shootings. Investigators say they are still in the process of following every lead. They've taken some 300 statements. They're looking at the ballistics. They are in the process of examining all the video involved here. The goal: to piece together in real-time exactly what happened.</s>LAH (voice-over): Tonight new details on the weapons gunman Micah Johnson carried the night he killed five Dallas officers. Law enforcement sources tell CNN investigators found a Glock pistol, another handgun and an AK-style semiautomatic rifle as they poured through the evidence.</s>CHIEF DAVID BROWN, DALLAS POLICE: There's over 170 hours of body- camera video to download. And that is ongoing. Detectives are also collecting all dash cam video.</s>LAH: Dallas Police Chief David Brown describing the delusional behavior of the cornered gunman: singing, laughing, and writing a final cryptic message, the initials "R.B." on the walls in his own blood. Also tonight, new details of Micah Johnson's troubled past. Newly- released school records show he graduated near the bottom of his high school class, then joining the military. His parents spoke to "The Blaze," his mother saying her son wasn't the same after seven months in Afghanistan.</s>JAMES JOHNSON, MICAH JOHNSON'S FATHER: I didn't see it coming. I love my son with all my heart. I hate what he did.</s>DELPHINE JOHNSON, MICAH JOHNSON'S MOTHER: The military was not what Micah thought it would be, the ideal that he thought of our government. Of what he thought the military represented. It just didn't live up to his expectations.</s>LAH: While in the Army, Micah Johnson was accused of sexual harassment by a female soldier in the Spring of 2014 while they were both serving in Afghanistan. He received an honorable discharge. The Army service record would include standard low-level marksmanship training but nothing extensive. Bomb-making material found in Johnson's home. Nothing he would have learned in the military.</s>BROWN: There's a lot of questions, and it is very complex. This person obviously has a delusion. This person also was very committed to killing officers. To be quite honest, I'm running on fumes.</s>LAH: Dallas's police chief unvarnished about his own and his department's fatigue. Chief David Brown acknowledging threats against his and his family's life via Facebook that candidly, openly spoke about the frustrations of local policing on the eve of the president's arrival in the city.</s>BROWN: We're asking cops to do too much in this country. We are. We're just asking us to do too much. Every societal failure, we put it off on cops to solve.</s>BROWN: We're hiring. Get off that protest line and put an application in. We'll put you in your neighborhood, and we will help you resolve some of the problems you're protesting about.</s>LAH: He also had a message to policy makers. The police chief here in Dallas saying, "We're putting our lives on the line. You do your jobs. Try to make these streets safer by writing better national policy." And Wolf, in a few hours, we are anticipating a candlelight vigil here. A candlelight vigil being honored -- being placed here by the Dallas Police Association to honor the five fallen officers -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, thank you. Kyung Lah reporting for us from Dallas. Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM right now, the president and CEO of the NAACP, Cornell William Brooks. Cornell, once again thank you very much for coming in. Over the weekend, we saw an outpouring of demonstrations, largely peaceful. Some got a little heated, as you well know. What's your reaction when you see these demonstrations? Do you want more of these demonstrations? These are the people who are protesting against what they see as police violence against African-Americans.</s>CORNELL WILLIAM BROOKS, PRESIDENT/CEO, NAACP: The NAACP has an old tradition of nonviolent protest. In the city of Atlanta, the NAACP was on the forefront of a very large demonstration. It was largely peaceful. We've been on the forefront of these demonstrations around the country. But here's what we know. You cannot bring about an end to racial violence, as in police brutality, with more violence. We exercise our rights under the Constitution by demonstrating our commitment to the ideals of this country and by posing -- pushing forward policies by reform. We did that in Congress. We do that in the state legislatures. We do it on the streets and in the streets across the country. So when you ask, do we need to have more demonstrations? Absolutely. But we have to not only demonstrate on the streets, we have to show up at the polls in mass and in the millions. That's what we intend on doing.</s>BLITZER: The former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, he had some controversial words about Black Lives Matter. The organizer of a lot of these protests. Let me play this for you and get your reaction.</s>RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: When you say Black Lives Matter, that's inherently racist. Black lives matter. White lives matter. Asian lives matter. Hispanic lives matter. That's anti-American, and it's racist.</s>BLITZER: Your reaction?</s>BROOKS: Every once in a while we all have to have a major dose of reality. Here's the reality. In many places across the country, black lives are not valued. They're devalued. Dehumanized. When an unarmed African-American man is seven times more likely to lose his life than his white counterpart, there's a devaluation of life. When we say black lives matter, that is the premise to the ethical conclusion that all lives matter. Unless the first is true, the second can never be true. Mr. Giuliani needs to think about this. We are at a moment in this country where we have many people losing lives at the hands of the police under questionable circumstances. We see these horrific videos. I had a chance to speak to Mr. Castile's mother a day or so ago. Look into a mother's face. Look into a mother's eyes. She lost her son, her dreams, her aspirations in her son, and he's -- he's detained or I should say stopped 52 times in his community. This is the story of a generation. So Mr. Giuliani, I beg to differ. I simply say to you that your record in New York City with respect to the disastrous policy of stop and frisk, which is another way of saying detain and demean was wrong. It was wrong in that city. It was wrong across the country. It was bad policy. And we have to move beyond that to good policy.</s>BLITZER: You came back here to Washington from a visit to Minnesota. And earlier, you were in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You met with the family, relatives, friends, others. What was it like to actually go to those two places and see the anger, the frustration?</s>BROOKS: Heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. I simply ask everyone to think about your mother. Think about your father. Think about the people who love you. And think about how their hearts would break when your life taken from you and simply as a consequence of your skin color. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Being black and in the wrong place at the wrong time. That is something no imagine -- no American should have to imagine. But that is what is happening all across this country. So meeting with Mr. Castile's family. Meeting with Mr. Sterling's family. Being in these communities, broken communities, it is tough. But this experience gives the NAACP all the more resolve, all the more determination to push more policies. And I want to emphasize, laws that will change the situation. We do that by showing up on the streets and showing up at the polls in mass and in the millions. So when we have our convention, and part of this week, and we have presidential candidates, Secretary Clinton coming before us, we are going to demand of them real answers for the problem in the streets. This is a problem that can only be solved if we as a country come together.</s>BLITZER: And Hillary Clinton has accepted your invitation. Has Donald Trump accepted the NAACP invitation to appear, as well?</s>BROOKS: We are hoping that he will do so. We have not yet heard from him. But I believe that the road to the White House takes you through the NAACP and Cincinnati.</s>BLITZER: I want you to stand by. We have more to discuss. Much more on all the new developments right now. Cornell Williams Brooks of the NAACP is with us. We'll be right back.