Comparing Shooters in the Dallas, Baton Rouge Police Attacks

U.S. officials and the public are scrambling to understand what kind of person targets and shoots police officers after two such incidents in less than two weeks. The answer to what drove the suspects may lie in their backgrounds, which local, state and federal investigators will be scrutinizing closely.

Here’s what we know so far about Micah Johnson, 25, the sniper who ambushed police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas July 7 and Gavin Long, 29, the shooter who killed three police officers in Baton Rouge on Sunday.

Both Johnson and Long were young black men in their 20’s. Both were divorced, and both were angry over the growing numbers of black men killed at the hands of police.

Neither Johnson nor Long finished college, and both sought careers in the U.S. military. Both had access to guns.

The two had very different military careers.

Johnson: Became a 'Hermit'

Johnson joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps while still in high school and enlisted in the Army Reserves after graduation. At age 22, he was deployed to Afghanistan as a carpentry and masonry specialist. But he returned home several months later in disgrace over a sexual harassment suit. Army friends told Dallas News he stopped socializing with anyone outside of his own race.

His mother told the Blaze he returned a very different man; once an extrovert, he became a “hermit.”

<script src="/js_7.10.0.0.24/custom/Infographics.x.js" type="text/javascript">

<script type="text/javascript"> /**/

Related Articles -

Email this Article to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!