It’s still not completely clear what the motive was here but it looks like the 22-year-old man who opened fire outside a Dallas court building was seeking to create mass casualties. Fortunately, police returned fire and no one else was hurt. The shooter was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. A photographer for the Dallas Morning News happened to be outside the courthouse waiting to enter the building to cover a trial and captured this photograph of the shooter just before he started firing:
DMN staff photographer @TomFoxPhoto captured this image shortly before a gunman opened fire on the Earle Cabell Federal Building Monday morning in downtown Dallas. Fox was waiting to enter the building to cover a trial when the attack took place. https://t.co/y8fWYYuKjs pic.twitter.com/fE1kFlEy9j
— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) June 17, 2019
The attempted attack happened just before 9 am. As you can see in the photo, the shooter had multiple magazines of ammunition. A witness in an apartment directly adjacent to the courthouse caught the shooting on video. If you look closely, you can see that just past the entrance to the building there is a man crouched in a corner. That’s Tom Fox, the photographer who took the photo above. He is literally in the middle of a gunfight. At the end of this clip, the shooter runs into the parking lot across the street and collapses behind a car.
Video of the shooting at the Federal Building in downtown Dallas. Shot by apartment resident Tim Brown. Puffs of smoke appear to be from return fire by Federal agents. @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/Qz4JMHxRul
— Brandon Todd (@BrandonToddFOX4) June 17, 2019
The shooter was eventually put into an ambulance and taken to a hospital:
MORE: Video of suspect being loaded into ambulance. @FOX4 (credit: Lane Brown) pic.twitter.com/qjQavYgbdG
— Gillian Hughes (@GillianNHughes) June 17, 2019
As for what motivated this, no one is certain yet. NBC News reports the shooter’s social media seemed to be full of conspiracy theories:
In a video posted June 9, he warned that “the storm is coming,” a phrase frequently used by anti-government internet conspiracy theorists, and said he didn’t know how much time he had left. The video ends with Clyde saying he’s “ready,” and holding up a long gun.
References to incels, or the “involuntary celibate” internet community that is prominent on extreme misogynist message boards, are frequently posted in memes on Clyde’s page.
Clyde posted a picture of a swastika on a green flag, calling it a “solution” on April 29. He also often posted anti-U.S. government conspiracy theories, including posts about secret pedophile rings and CIA experiments.
He had served in the military from 2015 to 2017, right after graduating from high school. So far his family hasn’t made any statements.
Finally, here’s the video shot by photographer Tom Fox. Be warned there is some NSFW language here.
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