Dallas Police Shooting: Suspect Shot Following Saturday Morning Attacks On Dallas Police Department Headquarters

This story has been updated.

Update, 2:05 p.m. EDT: Dallas police confirmed the suspect who shot at their headquarters early Saturday, hitting numerous officers' cars has been killed. The police department said the suspect identified himself as James Boulware, but its representatives say they have not been able to confirm his identity.

Update, 12 p.m. EDT: A report that authorities confirmed the death of a shooting suspect is "premature," Maj. Max Geron, a Dallas Police Department representative, said on Twitter. The Associated Press reported earlier that the suspect was found dead inside his armored van after an hours-long standoff with SWAT team officers.

Update, 11:15 a.m. EDT: A Dallas Police Department representative said officers have had no contact with the suspect in the four hours following a sniper attack on the man's armored vehicle.

Original Article Appears Below

The main suspect in a predawn attack on the Dallas Police Department's headquarters has been shot. A police sniper hit the suspect through the front windshield of his armored van Saturday morning in a restaurant parking lot in nearby Hutchins, Texas, Dallas police said.

Police said they were sending in robots to confirm whether the suspect was killed by sniper fire, although they do believe he is dead, Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters.

Officers will not inspect the vehicle themselves until they can confirm there are no explosives in the van, Dallas police spokesman Maj. Max Geron tweeted. If the suspect, who identified himself as James Boulware, is confirmed dead, technicians will deploy explosive-ordnance-disposal technicians to clear the van.

Police attempted and failed to take out the van's windshield using explosives, Geron said. Officers next fired multiple shots at the windshield with a .50-caliber rifle. Shortly after 11 a.m. EDT, officers managed to open the windshield and planned to use "an explosive 'water charge' to render any explosives inside inert," Geron confirmed.

Brown said Boulware, whose identity has not been confirmed, is believed to be the only suspect in the attack. Witnesses initially said they believed four suspects shot at police headquarters, but police now think one man shot from multiple locations, the chief said at a press conference.

The suspect rammed his van into police cars, fired at the vehicles and at officers before fleeing down an Interstate 45 service road, with the chase ending at a Jack in the Box restaurant in Hutchins. "The suspect has told our negotiators that we took his child, and we accused him of being a terrorist, and that he's going to blow us up," Brown told reporters. "And then he cut off negotiations."

Brown said police are now transitioning from an active bomb and shooting scene to a crime scene. The department is "still concerned about the well-being of our officers," he said, although no Dallas police officers were injured during the attacks. "We barely survived the intent of this suspect," he said, noting that officers literally dodged bullets during the episode.

Dallas SWAT technicians investigated five suspicious packages near police headquarters, two of which contained pipe bombs. Technicians detonated one of those bags, while the other exploded on contact. The three remaining bags were cleared, police representative Geron detailed through Twitter.