Military service changed the Dallas gunman from an extrovert into a hermit, his parents said in an interview excerpt published Monday.
Micah Johnson’s mother, Delphine Johnson, told theBlaze website in an interview that her son wanted to be a police officer as a child. His six years in the Army Reserve, including a tour in Afghanistan, were “not what Micah thought it would be . . . what he thought the military represented, it just didn’t live up to his expectations.” According to the military lawyer who represented him, Johnson was accused of sexually harassing a female soldier while deployed.
His father, James Johnson said haltingly and through tears: “I don’t know what to say to anybody to make anything better. I didn’t see it coming.”
The black 25-year-old fatally shot five officers in Thursday’s attack while hundreds of people were gathered in downtown Dallas to protest recent fatal police shootings, and wounded at least nine officers and two civilians.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown clarified Monday where Johnson was killed with a bomb delivered by a remote-controlled robot. Brown did not provide more details, including the locations of the negotiations that came before the bomb.
The police chief again defended the decision to use the robot, saying he had “already killed us in a grave way, and officers were in surgery that didn’t make it.”
Authorities have said Johnson had plans for a larger assault, possessed enough explosive material to inflict far greater harm and kept a journal of combat tactics. Eleven officers fired at Johnson and two used an explosive device.
“Bravery is not a strong enough word to describe what they did that day,” Brown said of officers’ response to Thursday’s events.
Federal agents are trying to trace the origin of the weapons used by Johnson, including a military-style semi-automatic rifle. About 30 agents are involved in identifying bullet casings.
Johnson’s time in the Army was marked by a sexual harassment accusation in May 2014 while in Afghanistan. The Army sent him stateside, recommending an “other than honorable discharge” – which is “highly unusual” because counseling is usually ordered before more drastic steps are taken, said Bradford Glendening, the military lawyer who represented him.
According to a court filing, the victim said she wanted Johnson to “receive mental help,” and sought a protective order to keep him away from her and her family. Johnson was ordered to avoid all contact with her.
“In his case, it was apparently so egregious, it was not just the act itself,” Glendening told the Associated Press. “I’m sure that this guy was the black sheep of his unit.”