Details emerged Friday about the five officers killed during a sniper attack at a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas, Texas, with their families and friends memorializing their loved ones in social media posts and interviews.
Four Dallas Police Department officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer were killed in the Thursday shooting, police said. Seven other officers and two civilians were wounded in what authorities called an “ambush-style” attack.
Here’s what we know so far about those killed and injured in the Dallas shooting:
Brent Thompson, 43, DART Officer
Brent Thompson, 43, joined Dallas Area Rapid Transit agency in 2009. He was killed in Friday’s attack.
Department spokesman Morgan Lyons said Thompson was the first DART officer to be killed in the line of duty since the agency formed a police department in 1989.
“As you can imagine, our hearts are broken,” Lyons said in a statement. “This is something that touches every part of our organization. We have received countless expressions of support and sympathy from around the world through the evening. We are grateful for every message. Thank you.”
Navarro College in Texas told The Huffington Post that Thompson took a training course there in 2004. Thompson’s LinkedIn profile says he taught at the college in the early 2000s, before working as an international police liaison officer for DynCorp International, a private military contractor. As part of his role for DynCorp, he mentored and trained police officers in Iraq and Afghanistan, his profile says.
He had recently married a fellow officer, DART Chief JD Spiller told reporters.
Patrick Zamarripa, 32, Dallas Police
Dallas Police officer Patrick Zamarripa was also killed in the attack, his father, Rick Zamarripa, confirmed to The Washington Post. Zamarripa had survived three tours in Iraq. Less than a week ago, Zamparria tweeted how proud he was to be American.
Rick Zamarripa told the Post his son had recently begun working as a bike officer downtown and was a big fan of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys. Zamarripa’s stepbrother, Dylan Martinez, asked people on Twitter to pray for Zamarripa.
Texas Rangers player Joey Gallo wrote on Instagram that he and teammate Nomar Mazara were walking in Dallas recently when Zamarripa came up to them and asked them to take a picture with them.
“I’ll never forget how kind and down to Earth he was. We ended up having a 15 minute conversation about sports with him. He was an avid Rangers fan. But more importantly a great person, and family man,” Gallo wrote.
Michael Krol, 40, Dallas Police
Michael Krol was killed in Thursday’s attack. He loved to play basketball, always wanted to be a police officer and was recruited by the Dallas Police Department to work there, Brian Schoenbaechler, his brother-in-law, told HuffPost. Around six or seven years ago, Krol moved away from his family in Detroit, where he had been a Wayne County sheriff’s deputy, to move to Dallas to “achieve his dream,” Schoenbaechler said.
The last time Schoenbaechler saw Krol was at Thanksgiving, when the family reunited in Detroit and spent time together at the Pegasus Tavern in the city’s Greektown neighborhood.
“He was a big guy with a big heart,” who was selfless and wanted to serve others, Schoenbaechler said.
Michael Smith, 55, Dallas Police
Michael Smith, who was part of the Dallas police force for nearly two decades, was killed in the attack, according to The Dallas Morning News, WFAA and KFDM.
Smith’s sister told KFDM he joined the Dallas Police Department in 1989, and his brother-in-law told WFAA Smith didn’t want to retire out of concern for other officers. The Dallas Morning News reported that Smith once used his own body to protect his partner from being struck by an object a gang member was holding, resulting in 31 stitches.
A 2009 article in “The Shield,” a publication of the Dallas Police Association, noted that Smith volunteered at the YMCA, where he developed a racquetball program, and at his church. The article also noted he was married and had two children.
Lorne Ahrens, 48, Dallas Police
Sr. Cpl. Lorne Ahrens, a 14-year veteran of the department, was killed on Thursday, according to WFAA and The Dallas Morning News.
Misty McBride, 32, DART Officer
DART officer Misty McBride, 32, was shot in the arm and the abdomen during the attack on Thursday and is expected to survive her injuries.
Her father, Richard McBride, said that she had been a cop for about five years and had never been involved in an attack like this.
“She was shot in the arm and it broke her shoulder, and she was shot in the abdomen and it went in one side and out the other side,” her father told reporters after visiting his daughter in the hospital. “She just realized that when she got shot, she fell over and turned around and started crawling back toward the car. The other officers got her and put her in the car and brought her over here.”
Richard McBride said his daughter was “fine” and just waiting to go into surgery.
Hunter McBride, Misty’s 10-year-old daughter, said she told her mother in the hospital, “I love you and I’m glad you’re here.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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