For the First Time, Police Used A Bomb Robot To Kill

"After sniper fire struck 12 police officers at a rally in downtown Dallas, killing five, police cornered a single suspect in a parking garage. After a prolonged exchange of gunfire and a five-hour-long standoff, police made what experts say was an unprecedented decision: to send in a police robot, jury-rigged with a bomb."

"'We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was,' Dallas Police Chief David Brown told a news conference Friday. 'Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger. The suspect is deceased as a result of detonating the bomb.'"

"At a Friday evening press conference, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings revealed that police used a common plastic explosive known as C4."

"'The same automated robot equipment used to defuse bombs was used to place C4 in place and to detonate that,' Rawlings said."

"This was a man that we gave plenty of options to to give himself up peacefully and we spent a lot of time talking. He had a choice to come out and we would not harm, or stay in and we would. He picked the latter."