Police are in a stand-off with one armed man in a multi-storey car park. Three other people have been detained.
Gunfire broke out at around 20:45 local time on Thursday (01:45 GMT Friday) as demonstrators marched through the city.
The protests were sparked by the deaths of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana.
***
7:47
Baku-APA. The city of Dallas was plunged into chaos on Thursday night as three police officers were shot dead and at least seven others were wounded when dozens of shots were fired during a downtown protest, APA reports quoting the Guardian.
Dallas police chief David Brown said in a statement that “two snipers shot ten officers from elevated positions”. Brown said three officers were killed, two were in surgery and three were in a critical condition.
“An intensive search for suspects is currently underway,” said Brown.
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit system announced on Twitter that four of its police officers had been struck, one fatally. The injuries to the other three officers were described as “not life-threatening”.
Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor of Texas, said on Twitter: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the police officers who were shot in Dallas tonight,”
Protests had broken out around the US earlier in the evening over the fatal police shootings of two African American men, Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge on Tuesday and Philando Castile, on Wednesday in Minneapolis.
As large protests grew in cities such as New York City and Minneapolis, a similar demonstration in Dallas appeared to be proceeding peacefully when shots rang out from an unknown location at about 9pm local time, according to witnesses.
Video footage captured by local television cameras and witnesses on social media showed at least one officer on the ground. Protesters were seen fleeing through the streets of downtown Dallas screaming as multiple shots rang out in quick succession.
“Everyone just started running,” Devante Odom, 21, an eyewitness, told the Dallas Morning News . “We lost touch with two of our friends just trying to get out of there.”
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit suspended all bus and rail service in downtown. Streets appeared to have been cleared by officers and people ordered while officers searched for suspects.
*** 07:26
Baku-APA. Two police officers were shot in Texas on Thursday during a protest against police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana, APA reposrts quoting KDFW TV in Dallas.
The condition of the officers was not known, the station said.
Broadcaster KABC reported that shots were fired during demonstrations at Belo Garden Park in Dallas. Footage showed a heavy police presence with officers taking cover behind vehicles on the street.
Photos posted on Twitter by the Dallas Police Department showed what appeared to be several hundred people assembled on the steps of a downtown museum, many holding signs as they listened to speakers address the crowd.
In other photos and footage posted on Twitter, a crowd could be seen marching through downtown streets. Police said the crowd, at one point, chanted "Black Lives Matter."
The protests in Dallas came as demonstrations were being held in several U.S. cities over the most recent fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.
The police department did not respond to requests for comment and did not update their Twitter account since media reports of gunfire.
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