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Our full article on the Dallas police shooting is here.

Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who is informally advising Donald J. Trump and being vetted as a possible Republican vice-presidential nominee, said on Friday that whites in America cant fathom being black in America.

Mr. Gingrich made the comments in a Facebook Live chat with the Democratic commentator Van Jones, who is black, after 12 officers were shot in Dallas at a rally protesting the deaths of black men by the police in Louisiana and Minnesota.

It took me a long time, and a number of people talking to me through the years, to get a sense of this, Mr. Gingrich said. If you are a normal, white American, the truth is you dont understand being black in America and you instinctively underestimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk.

He added there were everyday dangers that white people did not face. It is more dangerous to be black in America, he said. It is more dangerous in that they are substantially more likely to end up in a situation where the police dont respect you and you could easily get killed.

This week, Mr. Gingrich took credit for helping Mr. Trump craft a Twitter post that invoked a sticker book with characters from the Disney movie Frozen, with a six-pointed star, to mock people who criticized the candidate for posting an image on Twitter that was criticized as anti-Semitic. Mr. Trump has been accused throughout the campaign of making racially charged statements about Hispanics and Muslims.

But on Friday, Mr. Gingrich joined other prominent Republicans in broadly stating that white people and black people had fundamentally different experiences.

Hillary Clinton called the killing of five police officers in Dallas an absolutely horrific event, but she also implored white people to try to empathize with the experiences of African-Americans who fear encounters with the police.

I want us to remember that just 24 hours before, we had a killing with a loss of life in Baton Rouge and Minnesota, Mrs. Clinton told CNN on Friday afternoon.

Weve got to do more to listen to one another, she added. Weve got to do everything possible to support our police and to support innocent Americans who have encounters with police.

Mrs. Clinton praised the bravery of the Dallas police force. When the shooting started and everyone else was fleeing, the police were moving toward the danger, she said in her first extensive remarks since the attack in Dallas the night before.

Weve got to do more to bring the police together with the communities that they protect, she said, citing her plan to retrain the police and make law enforcement officials more interwoven with the communities they serve.

But she also said that police forces needed to go after systemic racism, and she pleaded with white Americans to try to understand those African-American families who fear every time their children go somewhere.

The authorities were sifting through Micah Johnsons activity on Facebook and elsewhere for clues to his beliefs and history.

Mr. Johnson, the suspect in the Dallas police shootings who was killed by a robot-controlled bomb after a police standoff, had a Facebook profile page since deleted that paid homage to black pride, featuring images of a raised fist and pictures of the red, black and green Pan-African flag.

Both have been symbols of nonviolent black empowerment for decades, but they have also been co-opted by violent extremist groups with racist views.

Mr. Johnson also liked two groups that could point to his ideological views. One was the New Black Panther Party, which the Anti-Defamation League considers the largest anti-Semitic and racist black militant group in the country. The other group was the African American Defense League, run by Mauricelm-lei Millere.

Millere is known for calling for violence against police specifically, on a regular basis, said Oren Segal, the director of the Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism. Usually after a high profile police-related shooting, he takes to social media to encourage violence against police.

The fact that Mr. Johnson followed Mr. Milleres group on Facebook, Mr. Segal said, may be an indicator that perhaps he influenced him.

Mr. Johnsons Facebook page also includes a picture posted in April of him and Richard Griffin, better known as Professor Griff of the rap group Public Enemy.

Mr. Griffin made headlines in the 1980s for anti-Semitic comments and has been associated with a radical strain of Afrocentrism.

In a series of postings on Twitter, Mr. Griffin said that he did not know Mr. Johnson and that he did not advocate killing cops.

One tweet read: No Mr white officer I do not train snipers to kill cops.

Another said: The police and FBI have been watching me and tapping my phone they know who I talk too, I do not know the shooter.

Yet another read: I will not sit back and let these people assassinate my character and tie me to the Dallas shootings.

The Dallas police chief, David O. Brown, whose department is reeling from the loss of four officers, is intimately familiar with the toll of violence.

Six years ago, his own son killed a civilian and police officer, and was then shot dead by the police.

The shootings occurred in June 2010, just weeks after ChiefBrown was sworn in. His 27-year-old son, David Brown Jr., fatally shot a man named Jeremy McMillian as Mr. McMillian drove with his family in an apartment complex in Lancaster, a suburb of Dallas, in what the authorities called a random attack.

An officer named Craig Shaw responded to the shooting, and the younger Mr. Brown killed him, too. He then died in a hail of police bullets.

Hours before, the younger Mr. Browns girlfriend had called the police, saying that he had had a psychotic breakdown, hit her and thrown her out of their apartment.

After the shootings, Chief Brown poured out his sorrow in a letter to his troops.

My family has not only lost a son, but a fellow police officer and a private citizen lost their lives at the hands of our son, he wrote then, to the citys 3,600 officers. That hurts so deeply I cannot adequately express the sadness I feel inside my heart.

The Dallas police chief, David O. Brown, was greeted by sustained cheers and applause when he spoke at a midday prayer service about a mile from the shootings.

Were hurting. We need this community to show officers that we appreciate their sacrifice, the chief told the outside gathering of about 500 people. This was a well-planned, well-thought-out tragedy by these suspects, and we will not rest until everyone involved is brought to justice.

He said Dallas officers would need counseling for a very long time and he pledged determination to not let the murders steal our democracy from us.

Mayor Mike Rawlings also spoke, calling the killings an act of evil.

I believe this city will be better and see better days because of the lives that were lost last night, the mayor said.

The Rev. Bryan Carter was the first of a long line of religious officials who called for unity and peace.

We refuse to hate each other, he said to cheers. We commit to pray together.

The service was held in intense heat in Thanksgiving Square, an ecumenical religious space in downtown Dallas. Long blue and yellow ribbons were passed out, and many draped them over their necks as a sign of solidarity with the police.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas on Friday called the protesters assembled in Dallas the night before hypocrites for expecting police protection from the sniper fire while they were protesting police violence.

All those protesters last night, they ran the other way expecting the men and women in blue to turn around and protect them, Mr. Patrick told Fox News. What hypocrites!

Mr. Patrickalso blamed protesters for creating volatile situations like the one in Dallas the night before, which ended with five law enforcement officers dead and seven officers and two civilians wounded.

And I understand the First Amendment, I understand freedom of speech, and I defend it, he said. It is in our Constitution, it is in our soul, but you cant go out on social media and mainstream media and everywhere else and say that the police are racist, that the police are hateful, the police are killers.

He added: Too many in the general public who arent criminals but have a big mouth are creating situations like we saw last night.

In the interview, he alsosuggested that the police might stop protecting citizens if the violence and the harsh language against them does not abate.

I do blame people on social media with their hatred toward police, he said, adding, I do blame former Black Lives Matter protests last night was peaceful, but others have not been.

This has to stop, he said.

The remarks came not long after Gov. Greg Abbott wrotean open letter to all Texansstrongly defending the police but also calling for unity.

In the coming days, there will be those who foment distrust and fan the flames of dissension, Mr. Abbott wrote. To come together that would be the greatest rebuke to those who seek to tear us apart.

A senior law enforcement official said on Friday that Micah Johnson, the suspect killed by a robot-controlled bomb, appears to have been the only gunman in Thursdays nights deadly sniper attack on the Dallas police.

The official said that investigators were looking into whether Mr. Johnson, a black, 25-year-old Army veteran, had ties to groups like Black Lives Matter and the New Black Panthers, but so far had not found any.

Mr. Johnson was in the Army Reserves from 2009 to 2015, attaining the rank of private first class, according to Army records. He deployed to Afghanistan in November 2013 with the 420th Engineer Brigade, based in Seagoville, Tex. His job specialty in the military was as a mason and carpenter. Nothing in his records suggests he saw combat, or was injured.

Mr. Johnson died on Friday morning after an hourslong standoff with the police in a parking garage.

Officials had initially said there were two or more snipers involved in the attack. Three other people were in custody, but officials have not said what roles they may have played.

In Congress on Friday, a chorus of voices denounced the violence.

The House speaker, Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, urged members of Congress and Americans to unite and not let divisions widen.

We are all stunned by the events last night in Dallas, Mr. Ryan said in a speech that immediately followed the opening prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.

I know that to be a cops wife or a cops husband is to prepare for the worst, he continued. But who could have fathomed such horror as this? There is no cause or context in which this violence, this kind of terror is justified. None at all. There will be a temptation to let our anger harden our divisions. Lets not let that happen.

Mr. Ryan also extended a small olive branch to President Obama.

As the president rightfully said, Justice will be done,' Mr. Ryan said, continuing his remarks. We also have to let the healing be done as well. This has been a long week for our country, it has been a long month for America. We have seen terrible senseless things. Every member of this body every Republican and every Democrat wants to see less gun violence. Every member of this body wants a world in which people feel safe regardless of the color of their skin. Thats not how people are feeling these days.

He added: Lets not lose sight in our common humanity. The values that brought those protesters to the streets in Dallas. The values that brought those protesters to the streets in Washington last night. Respect. Decency. Compassion. Humanity. If we lose those fundamental things, whats left?

The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, echoed Mr. Ryans remarks, in her own speech on the House floor.

The ambush and murder of police officers during a peaceful protest is a tragedy that tears at the heart of every American, Ms. Pelosi said. I agree with the speaker that episodes like this must not harden our divisions but must unify us as a country

At a news conference elsewhere in the Capitol, members of the Congressional Black Caucus expressed outrage and pain, and they urged Republican leaders to allow votes on legislation to tighten the nations gun control laws.

They also said they would be introducing legislation encouraging communities to adopt voluntary police performance standards, and they called for increased federal financing for law enforcement training.

But many of the comments were in purely emotional terms about the horrors of the violence in Dallas and the police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana.

We must come to the point in our country where we respect the dignity and worth of every human being, said Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia.

A Dallas police officer was identified by his family on Friday as one of the victims of the Thursday night attack.

The family of Patrick Zamarripa said on social media that he was one of five police officers killed in the outbreak of gunfire.

Need prayers to get through this, Mr. Zamarripas father, Rick Zamarripa, said in a Facebook post from Parkland Hospital on Friday.

The Dallas authorities have publicly identified a single officer who was killed Thursday night: Brent Thompson, 43, a member of the local transit agencys police force.

Dallas police said they used the departments bomb robot early Friday to kill a suspect in the sniper attacks by detonating an explosive device attached to the robots arm.

While the police offered no additional information, the Dallas department apparently repurposed a bomb disposal robot. Such robots are normally used to inspect potentially dangerous crime scenes or pick up suspected explosive devices for detonation or dismantling.

The robots are actually remote-controlled vehicles, often not much bigger than a lawn mower, that are fitted with cameras able to pan and zoom, a microphone and speakers for two-way communication, and an extendible arm that can move in many directions, with a gripper at the end. The Dallas police chief, David Brown, did not describe the bomb that was attached to the robots arm or how it was detonated.

The robots usually have articulated wheels or tank tracks that allow them to maneuver over debris, travel up steep inclines, and climb stairs. They can be controlled by a cable or wirelessly, by an operator from a safe distance using a joystick and monitor or, more likely these days, a tablet or other small computer that has a virtual joystick and displays images from the robots cameras.

The grippers on some robots can handle delicate tasks, like putting a key in a door lock. The robots can also hold tools like saws, or a small shotgun used to break down doors. Some arms can deliver a fast punch, which is useful for breaking windows.

Dallas officers used several robots in a June 2015 incident in which a man shot at Police Headquarters and planted pipe bombs outside the building. One of the bombs, inside a duffel bag left in a parking lot, exploded as a robot lifted the bag. Another robot was used to approach a parked van occupied by the suspect.

A department spokesman announced in May that its bomb disposal unit had acquired new equipment, including robots.

The county prosecutor in St. Paul said Friday that he was unsure whether he would use a grand jury to decide on possible charges against the suburban police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile on Wednesday night.

John J. Choi, the Ramsey County attorney, said he historically has used grand juries in police shooting cases and saw benefits in doing so, but that he would consider whether that was the right approach for Mr. Castiles case.

I just need a little time and thought put into it, Mr. Choi said at a news conference at his downtown office. I think this is a very extraordinary case.

Mr. Choi said he had asked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating the case, for a thorough but prompt investigation into Mr. Castiles shooting by Officer Jeronimo Yanez of the St. Anthony Police Department. He did not provide a timeline for when the investigation might be turned over to his office, and said we dont yet have all the facts in the case.

If Mr. Choi opts to decide on charges himself, rather than presenting the case to grand jurors, he would be following his colleague in neighboring Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis. The prosecutor there, who also had long used grand juries for police shootings, changed his policy and decided himself to not charge the Minneapolis officers involved in last years fatal shooting of Jamar Clark, another case that prompted widespread protests in this area.

Mr. Choi, who said he could not remember an officer being charged for an on-duty fatal shooting in his county, expressed sympathy for Mr. Castiles family and called the case tragic and sad in so many ways.

I understand many of the emotions being expressed by the community and elected officials, Mr. Choi said. I, too, am disheartened by the tragic events that unfolded Wednesday night.

Police officers in several major cities have been told or encouraged to work in pairs in the wake of the sniper attack on the police in Dallas.

The Boston Police Department on Friday said officers had been directed to patrol in two-person units, not alone.

In light of the tragedy in Dallas and in the best interests of officer safety, all #BPD patrols will be conducted by two-officer units, the department said in a statement.

Officer James Kenneally, a spokesman for the department, said both one- and two-person patrols had been used by the department for some time, and that it was not immediately clear how long the new policy would be in place.

I think itll be a day-by-day kind of basis, Officer Kenneally said.

In New York, the Police Department sent out an advisory asking police officers to pair up on patrol.

Police officers in Chicago have also been told to work in pairs, The Chicago Tribune reported.

The requirement is meant to increase visibility and strengthen officer safety after the Texas shooting, which a police spokesman called unspeakable. Information was not available about how long the requirement would be in effect, the newspaper reported.

This weeks events are also an important reminder of our work with community partners to continue promoting positive engagement between officers and the residents were sworn to protect, the department said in a statement.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Friday called the shooting in Dallas an unfathomable tragedy and pleaded for calm, not more violence, in response to the turmoil that has roiled the nation in the last few days.

Ms. Lynch, speaking with reporters at the Justice Department, acknowledged that many Americans were feeling a sense of fear and helplessness after a week of profound grief and heartbreak and loss including the police shootings in Baton Rouge, La., and Minnesota.

The answer must not be violence, she said.

The attorney general did not take any questions and provided no new details on the shooting. The F.B.I. and other federal law enforcement agencies are assisting the police in Dallas, but as of now, the shooting is not being treated as a terrorist attack, which would bring the F.B.I. in to lead the investigation.

Craig R. Miller, a former deputy chief of the Dallas Police Department who is now the police chief of the Dallas Independent School District, said Friday that the attack on officers in Dallas will reverberate among law enforcement officials near and far for years to come.

Columbine in 99 changed the perception of schools, Chief Miller said. 9/11 changed the perception of the world. Virginia Tech changed the perception of colleges.

Chief Miller, who was with the Dallas Police Department for 30 years, said he believed that what took place in the last 24 hours in the city of Dallas is going to have an effect on all police officers, not just in the United States but around the world.

If what we believe actually took place, where officers were shot in the back in some instances from elevated perched positions, he said, and perhaps the bad guy was using armor-piercing bullets that will change the dynamics in the body armor that the police officers use, how that body armor is worn, whether or not body armor is worn.

The Dallas event could change the way protests are conducted and how police manage them, he said.

He knew some of the 12 officers who were shot, including three of the five deceased officers, all of whom he declined to name.

This is a sad, sad day one of the darkest days in the history of the Dallas Police Department, Chief Miller said. I would say the darkest day.

He described the Dallas force as the ninth-largest police department in America. The Dallas P.D. is extremely progressive, and a well-oiled machine that the community here has great faith in, he said.

The slain suspect in the attack in Dallas on Thursday night was Micah Johnson, 25, a black Army veteran who lived in the Dallas area, a senior law enforcement official said on Friday.

Earlier in the morning, Chief David O. Brown of the Dallas Police said that officers killed the suspect, whom he did not name, by detonating a robot-controlled police bomb after failed negotiations and a brief exchange of gunfire. Three other suspects were in custody.

He said he was upset about the recent police shootings, Chief Brown said. The suspect said that he was upset about white people. The suspect stated that he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.

The family of Alton B. Sterling, a 37-year-old black man who was killed on Tuesday morning by two police officers in Baton Rouge, La., prompting a Justice Department investigation and widespread outrage, has issued a statement condemning the violence in Dallas that has claimed the lives of five police officers.

Mr. Sterling was pinned to the ground when he was shot. The episode was captured in an online video, and has stirred passionate but peaceful protests in Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana.

On Friday morning, L. Chris Stewart and Justin Bamberg, two lawyers for Quinyetta McMillon, the mother of Mr.Sterlings son Cameron Sterling, issued the following statement:

We wholeheartedly reject the reprehensible acts of violence that were perpetrated against members of the Dallas Police Department.

Our hearts break for the families of the officers who were lost as they protected protesters and residents alike during a rally.

Regardless of how angry or upset people may be, resorting to this kind of sickening violence should never happen and simply cannot be tolerated.

Members of law enforcement have a very difficult job and the vast majority conduct themselves honorably as they protect and serve our communities.

We maintain that officers who violate the public trust and their training should be held accountable through our countrys justice system.

Responding to violence with violence is not the answer.

Protests in Dallas against the police shootings of blacks continued on Friday, as hundreds of people marched through the streets, chanting and carrying Black Lives Matter posters.

The protests came after thesniper attacks on police officers at a demonstration on Thursday night against the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile one of many such protests in cities around the country.

In New York, 40 people were arrested on Thursday night during a protest in Manhattan, the police said. Most of them were charged with disorderly conduct.

Other demonstrations were held in Oakland, where protesters blocked Interstate 880; in Denver, where they marched to the State Capitol; and in St. Paul, near where Mr. Castile died. The St. Paul protests lasted well into Friday morning near the Minnesota governors residence.

Jane E. Bishkin, a Dallas lawyer who represents five of the seven officers who were wounded, said that they were expected to recover.

She said one of the five, a female officer, suffered a serious injury to her left arm and may be disabled as a result.

No information was immediately available about the other two wounded officers.

As Donald J. Trump canceled his campaign events in Miami and released a statement in response to the Dallas shootings, his campaigns Virginia state chairman took to social media and explicitly blamed Hillary Clinton for them.

Corey Stewart, who is also reported to be planning a run for governor in Virginia in 2017, posted on Facebook as news of the shooting was breaking.

Liberal politicians who label police as racistsspecifically Hillary Clinton and Virginia Lt. Governor Ralph Northamare to blame for essentially encouraging the murder of these police officers tonight, Mr. Stewart wrote.

The Trump campaign condemned Mr. Stewarts comments.

Corey does not speak for the campaign and this is not something we agree with, Hope Hicks, a campaign spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Trumps son, also has been active on social media since the shooting,retweeting Joe Walsh, the former congressmen and current radio host, sharing a news articlethat reported that Black Lives Matter protesters had been calling for the killing of police officers on Twitter.

The post was one of many Mr. Walsh has been sharing that have been fraught withracial tensions, and attempting to put blame on the Black Lives Matter movement and President Obama for the shootings.

Mrs. Clinton canceled some of her appearances but plans to follow through with others, including a speech at the African Methodist Episcopal Church conference in Philadelphia.