Dallas Protest Organizer Speaks Out After Peaceful Rally Turns Tragic
“Things went from beautiful to evil very quickly,” Hood said.
— -- One of the Dallas protest organizers spoke out after the peaceful rally Thursday night turned deadly when a sniper gunned down five law enforcement officers and injured seven others -- saying that he asked "why, why, why" and said the answer "was turn to love."
"This protest started out as a really beautiful thing," Rev. Jeff Hood said on "Good Morning America" today. "As we marched through the streets of Dallas, there was a real solidarity, a real peace, the police remarked that this was an incredibly nonviolent protest considering the amount of people that we have."
Hood then describes the moment he heard gunfire, initially thinking it was a firecracker.
When he saw two bodies on the ground, he said he held his chest, thinking that he may have been shot, "I was touching my body, I was touching my chest, because I really felt like it was possible that I was shot."
"As the sergeant ran towards the shooting I ran back, to tell the crowd to say 'Back up, back up, Active shooter, active shooter, run away, run away!'"
“Things went from beautiful to evil very quickly,” Hood added.
At a press conference this morning in Dallas, Hood -- identifies on his website as a Baptist pastor, theologian and activist from Texas -- spoke out against the violence, saying that the goal of the protest was to create "a space where anger could be let out.
"We were interested in creating a space where people could grieve. We were interested in creating a space where people could network to face head-on the problem of police brutality in our country."
"We left that rally in a nonviolent fashion. After leaving the rally, I heard 'Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop' in succession. Immediately when I heard the shots, I looked up, and I saw what I believe were two police officers that went down," Hood said.
"I spent those three hours talking to people asking the question, 'Why, why? Why is this happening?' The only answer I know now and the only answer I knew then was turn to love. We've got to turn to love. We got to stop shooting," Hood added. "This is a devastating time for the city of Dallas. It's a devastating time for us as activists and organizers."