‘I’m scared to get anybody mad,’ residents reflect on Dallas shooting

Residents of the Miami Valley offered their reactions to the shooting of 12 officers and two civilians at a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas, Texas, that left five Dallas police officers dead Thursday night.

Donna McMann:

“I think it’s horrible, I’m scared to get anybody mad. I look around in restaurants. I’m just scared to go anywhere anymore. I don’t think it’s right that everybody’s allowed to carry a gun.”

Pat Newcomb:

“Mostly I think we have to work for peace, we have to work to diffuse the hate language and we have to break through these barriers — the unconscious and subconscious racism that’s driving all this original problem … I’m sad for the policemen, I’m sad for the young men in Louisiana and Minnesota and their families.”

Mike Frey:

“I think it was a tragedy; I think we have to change some opinions in this country. A lot of people are looking at this the wrong direction. We need to change a lot of our attitudes. … America is a great country but we’ve gone backwards a lot. I don’t think we have a race issue, I think we have an attitude issue.”

Amatul Shafeeka:

” … The African American community is just at this point because it seems as community policing, it appears if the voices of even blacks lives matters is not being heard,” Shafeeka said.

“You’re going to have certain groups that are peaceful but you’re going to have some who have just snap, to me that’s what happen today, they snap,” he added.

“We’re not just talking about a moment of frustration, we’re talking about individuals I don’t know what their age groups are, but it’s a generation frustration,” Shafeeka said.

Clinton Cutrary:

“It don’t (sic) make no sense for us to be killing each other like this, it’s terrible,” Cutrary said.

Lawrence Smith:

“… I think it’s a tragic thing. People are just upset, that’s no way to correct the issue by shooting up someone else,” Smith said. “I think there’s a better way to solve the problems, its unfortunate. I just pray for all the families who lost members, I pray this thing works out.”

Smith said he believes the shooting happened out of frustration.

“A lot of black men die at the hands of police for whatever reason a lot of it seems to be unjustified. So, I guess people are venting their frustration, but that’s not the proper way to vent your frustration,” Smith said.

Smith added that people need to think first before acting.

“When you act out of frustration and madness you ought to do something you regret,” Smith said.

Kelly Tipelo, student at Miami University:

“I think it’s very tragic that it happened,” said the criminal justice major at Miami University. “The officers are not to hurt people, they’re here to help people. I don’t think stricter gun laws are going to change the fact that they got gunned down. People will find ways to get guns regardless.”

Scott Nelson of Hamilton:

“I can understand why black people seem to be singled out by white majority police officers. The system is broken down in some kind of way that where the white majority thinks they can overtake the black minority. It doesn’t seem right.”

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