Dallas Shooter Micah Johnson Was Accused Of Sexual Harassment During His Military Days

Micah Johnson, the suspected sniper behind the Dallas shooting on July 7, was reportedly accused of sexual harassment while serving in Afghanistan, a military lawyer has said.

Johnson, 25, was a a private first class in the U.S. Army Reserve. He was stationed in Afghanistan in 2014, when a higher-ranking female soldier accused him of sexually harassing her, Bradford Glendening told ABC news.

Glendening, who represented Johnson during the case, claims that the female soldier, Anna Ma, requested a military protective order against Johnson. Furthermore, Glendening also told ABC News that while working the case, he got the sense that Johnson was mostly disliked by his unit and appeared to be disrespectful of the Chain of Command.

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Micah was deployed to Afghanistan on November 2013, but he returned home after only 6 months of service. This was because of the alleged harassment. As a punishment, the Chain of Command had recommended an “other than honorable” discharge for Johnson, but curiously this didn’t happen. According to Associated Press, Micah Johnson was honorably discharged on April 2015. He is currently the prime suspect in the Dallas shooting incident from last Thursday, which claimed the lives of 5 police officers.

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During the incident in Dallas, 12 police officers were shot, 5 of whom were killed. Two civilians were shot as well, in the ambush-style attack that took place during a Black Lives Matter rally, where people had gathered to protest the recent shootings of two black men, Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, by police officers. The incident had prompted protest rallies and marches in different cities across the country. And while most of these protests were peaceful, the situation in downtown Dallas took a terrible turn when shots were fired targeting law enforcement officials. Micah Johnson claimed sole responsibility for the shooting, according to ABC news.

For several hours, Police exchanged gunfire with the shooter and tried negotiating with him. During the time, Johnson announced to the negotiators that he was unhappy about the events in Louisiana and Minnesota, and that he had intended to kill white people, and white police officers in particular. The police chief also said that Micah had also announced that he had acted alone.

After the negotiations failed to convince the attacker to surrender, law enforcement officials had to kill him using a bomb delivered by a robot. The Mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, told the media that Micah Johnson had been given “plenty of options to give himself up peacefully.”

“He had a choice to come out and we would not harm him, or stay in and we would. He picked the latter.”

Right before he was killed, Micah reportedly announced that more attacks would follow and that there were bombs planted around the city. Thankfully, no explosives were found when police swept the area for bombs. But when police searched Johnson’s house, they discovered bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal full of combat tactics.

Condolences for the deceased and condemnations for the killer have been pouring all around, specially throughout social media. The Dallas shooting has been deemed one of the deadliest attack on law enforcement in recent history.

President Barack Obama made a statement calling the incident “a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement.”

“I believe I speak for every single American when I say we are horrified over these events, and we stand united with the people and the police department in Dallas.”

The protests by Black Lives Matter activists has also suffered repercussions following the Dallas Shooting. Black Lives Matter has condemned the assault, calling for an end in violence.

[Photo by Eric Gay/AP Images]