Loretta Lynch after Dallas attack: Don’t let violence be ‘a new normal’

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Friday called on Americans to reject “the easy impulses of bitterness and rancor” after the shooting deaths of five law enforcement officers in Dallas on Thursday and the high-profile deaths of two black men at the hands of police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier in the week.

“This has been a week of profound grief and heartbreaking loss,” Ms. Lynch said, noting a peaceful protest in Dallas had been planned in response to the deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota.

Ms. Lynch said the Department of Justice intends to provide any assistance it can to investigate the attack in Dallas. She also said the department has opened a civil rights investigation in Louisiana and is assisting local authorities in Minnesota.

The sniper attack in Dallas on Thursday killed five officers and wounded seven other officers. Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown said a suspect said he was upset at white people and said he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.

The attack took place at the conclusion of a Black Lives Matter protest in the wake of the deaths earlier in the week of Sterling and Castile. Events surrounding the deaths of both men were captured on video.

“The answer must not be violence. The answer is never violence,” Ms. Lynch said, calling for “calm, peaceful, collaborative, and determined action.”

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“Above all, we must reject the easy impulses of bitterness and rancor and embrace the difficult work, but the important work, the vital work, of finding a path forward together,” she said.

She also said peaceful protesters should not be discouraged.

“We will continue to safeguard your constitutional rights and to work with you in the difficult mission of building a better nation and a brighter future,” she said.

“To all Americans, I ask you, I implore you: do not let this week precipitate a new normal in this country,” she said. “I ask you to turn to each other, not against each other, as we move forward.”