UDPATE, 8:50 P.M. ET: The Dallas Police Department tweeted that the search for the suspect has concluded. "Out of an abundance of caution, officers searched the garage to ensure reports of a suspicious person was thoroughly investigated," the department tweeted.
Original story below:
The Dallas Police Department began a search for a “suspicious person” in the parking garage of its headquarters on Saturday, July 9.
After earlier reports stated that the headquarters were placed on lockdown following a “credible threat,” the department clarified on Twitter, writing, “Reports of shots fired at HQ police parking garage is incorrect. No shots fired at HQ. Reports of HQ being on lockdown is incorrect. … SWAT set off a device to enter a locked fence. Officers are searching the police parking garage for a suspicious person. Officers are conducting a systematic search of the parking lot. … Officers are planning to breach a lock door in the garage with a shotgun.”
The Dallas Police Department SWAT team was deployed on Saturday afternoon after ABC affiliate WFAA News reported that a threat was “made by a group from Houston claiming to be armed.”
According to the news outlet, officers have reportedly started a city-wide roll call to ensure that all Dallas police officers are OK.
The Dallas Morning News reported that the doors to the department’s complex on South Lamar Street were locked and officers are standing guard outside. A masked man was reportedly spotted in a parking garage behind the headquarters and a SWAT team headed to the area with their guns drawn.
“The Dallas Police Department received an anonymous threat against law enforcement across the city and has taken precautionary measures to heightened security,” police wrote in a statement, the Morning News reported.
BuzzFeed reporter Ali Watkins, who was on the scene, tweeted that reporters and news crews were being moved back from the building.
The reported threat comes just two days after a gunman killed five Dallas Police Department officers and wounded seven more in a sniper attack at a peaceful protest.
Story developing.
