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  Sniper a loner, followed extremists

Sniper a loner, followed extremists

AFP
Published : Jul 10, 2016, 6:45 am IST
Updated : Jul 10, 2016, 6:45 am IST

The Dallas sniper had been sent home from Afghanistan after being accused of sexually harassing a female, and was described as a loner who followed black militant groups on social media.

Micah Xavier Johnson
 Micah Xavier Johnson

The Dallas sniper had been sent home from Afghanistan after being accused of sexually harassing a female, and was described as a loner who followed black militant groups on social media.

Micah Xavier Johnson, who fatally shot five officers and wounded seven more before the police killed him with a remote-controlled bomb on Friday, lived with family members in the blue-collar suburb of Mesquite, where he played basketball for hours at a time.

Friends there said the 25-year-old black man didn’t seem interested in politics, but his Facebook page suggests otherwise: He “liked” black militant groups, including the African-American Defence League and the New Black Panther Party, which was founded in Dallas.

His photo showed him wearing a dashiki and raising his fist over the words “Black Power,” and his cover shot carried the red, black and green Pan-African flag.

For six years starting in 2009, Johnson served in the Army Reserve as a Private first class with a speciality in carpentry and masonry, the military said.

In May 2014, six months into his Afghanistan tour, he was accused of sexual harassment by a female soldier. The Army sent him stateside, recommending an “other than honourable discharge,” said Mr Bradford Glendening, the military lawyer who represented him.

That recommendation was “highly unusual,” Mr Glendening said, since counselling is usually ordered before more drastic steps are taken.

“In his case, it was apparently so egregious, it was not just the act itself,” Mr Glendening said.

“I’m sure that this guy was the black sheep of his unit.”

According to a court filing Mr Glendening read over the phone Friday, the victim said she wanted Johnson to “receive mental help,” while also seeking a protective order to keep him away from her and her family, wherever they went.

Location: United States, Texas, Mesquite