Army Removed Dallas Shooter's Weapons During Afghanistan Deployment

— -- According to newly released Army documents, Micah Johnson, who killed five Dallas police officers in July, had his weapons taken away by commanders during a 2014 deployment to Afghanistan after a female soldier in his unit complained that he had sexually harassed her and stolen her underwear.

A redacted copy of the Army's initial investigation into the allegations of the sexual harassment was posted on an Army website earlier this week.

According to the report, in May 2014, a female soldier in Johnson's Army Reserve engineering unit stepped forward to allege that he had stolen some of her underwear from her belongings and had sexually harassed her. She told investigators that she and Johnson had been platonic friends in the unit for five years and described a series of ups and downs throughout their relationship that included "fights and disagreements."

The report quotes what may be one of Johnson's superiors at a base in southern Afghanistan as saying, "The 1SG (First Sergeant) told me we needed to separate them as soon as possible."

"I asked if for safety reasons we should relieve [PFC] Johnson of his firearm and any bladed weapons in his possession," said the soldier. "The 1SG said that was a good idea so I had [redacted] retrieve all weapons. We locked them in our mail room for security.” It is unclear how long Johnson did not have access to his weapons.

An Army official said Johnson's "weapon was taken simply out of an abundance of caution" and not due to any perceived threat.

According to the official, "He did not appear agitated, or threaten himself or others. It was an unusual event for the company and an action taken through an analytical Command decision, rather than any perceived threat."

A later inspection of Johnson's personal belongings turned up a grenade round and a bag of prescription medications that belonged to another soldier, the documents show.

When confronted about the missing underwear, Johnson ran away and later admitted to investigators that he was trying to throw them away in a dumpster along the way, documents show.

The report ultimately determined that Johnson had sexually harassed the female soldier. The investigating officer’s recommendations for how to deal with Johnson’s case were redacted.

Johnson was transferred to Bagram Airfield, north of Kabul, where he served out the remainder of his deployment to Afghanistan that ended in July 2014.

In July of this year, Johnson killed five police officers and injured nine others in an ambush shooting targeting police officers who were providing security for a protest against police violence in Dallas. Johnson was killed by police, who used a robot to deliver an explosive device to his hiding place.