--- title: Read President Obama's Remarks About the Dallas Police Shooting description: Read President Barack Obama's remarks about the killing of five police officers in Dallas, a "vicious, calculated and despicable attack" canonical: https://time.com/4398185/barack-obama-remarks-dallas-police-shooting/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-08T18:33:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:40:24.052Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Remarks About the Dallas Police Shooting og:description: "There has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement" og:url: https://time.com/4398185/barack-obama-remarks-dallas-police-shooting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9e8f00de8a151b0/69889b27cf40a85200c43ece/obama-dallas-shooting-remarks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Obama Makes Statement On Afghanistan At White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Remarks About the Dallas Police Shooting twitter:description: "There has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9e8f00de8a151b0/69889b27cf40a85200c43ece/obama-dallas-shooting-remarks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Remarks About the Dallas Police Shooting > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f72dc4d9-6820-4689-b9cb-0a2a8231cfc3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Obama Condemns ‘Vicious, Calculated and Despicable’ Dallas Shootings [Watch (HLS stream): Obama Condemns ‘Vicious, Calculated and Despicable’ Dallas Shootings](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/D0Y6yfbw.m3u8) (3:15)  _Published 2016-07-08. U.S. President Barack Obama called the shootings in Dallas which saw five police officers killed and at least six others injured a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement.”_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 8, 2016 6:33 PM UTC U.S. President Barack Obama called the shootings in Dallas which saw five police officers killed and at least six others injured a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement.”  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 8, 2016 6:33 PM UTC President Barack Obama on Friday characterized the [killing of five police officers](http://time.com/4397785/dallas-shooting-police-protest-snipers/?xid=homepage) in Dallas as a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement.” “Today is a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices that they make for us,” he said. “We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons, unfortunately it makes attacks like these more deadly and more tragic. And in the days ahead, we’re going to have to consider those realities as well.” Obama made the remarks in Warsaw, Poland, before speaking about his meetings with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. --- > “” --- **Read more:** [Read President Obama’s Remarks On the Alton Sterling and Philando Castile Police Shootings](http://time.com/4397600/obama-alton-sterling-philando-castile-speech-transcript/) --- > “” --- ## Transcript We still don't know all the facts. What we do know is that there has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement. Police in Dallas were on duty doing their jobs, keeping people safe, During peaceful protests. These law enforcement officers were targeted and nearly a dozen officers were shot, five were killed. Other officers and at least one civilian were wounded. Some are in serious condition and we are praying for their recovery As I told Mayor Rawlings, I believe that I speak for every single American when I say that we are horrified over these events and that we stand united with the people and the police department in Dallas. According to police, there are multiple suspects. We will learn more undoubtedly about their twisted motivations. But let's be clear. There's no possible justification for these kinds of attacks or any violence against law enforcement. The FBI is already in touch with the Dallas police and Anyone involved in these senseless murders will be held fully accountable, justice will be done. I will have more to say about this as the facts become more clear, for now, let me just say that even as yesterday I spoke about our Need to be concerned, as all Americans, about racial disparities and our criminal justice system. I also said yesterday that our police have an extraordinarily difficult job and the vast majority of them do their job in outstanding fashion. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I also indicated the degree to which we need to be supportive of those officers who do their job each and every day, protecting us and protecting our communities. Today is a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices that they make for us. We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons, unfortunately it makes attacks like these more deadly and more tragic and in the days ahead, we're gonna have to consider those realities as well. In the meantime, Today, our focus is on the victims and their families. They are heartbroken. The entire city of Dallas is grieving. Police across America, which is a tight knit family, feels this loss to their core. And we're grieving with them. I'd asked all Americans to say prayer for these officers and their families to keep them in their in your thoughts and as a nation, let's remember to express our profound gratitude to our men and women in blue not just today but everyday ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4398185/barack-obama-remarks-dallas-police-shooting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4398185/barack-obama-remarks-dallas-police-shooting/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Remarks About the Dallas Police Shooting","datePublished":"2016-07-08T18:33:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-06T09:40:24.052Z","description":"\"There has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement\"","url":"https://time.com/4398185/barack-obama-remarks-dallas-police-shooting/","keywords":["White House","Texas","Barack Obama","Dallas","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9e8f00de8a151b0/69889b27cf40a85200c43ece/obama-dallas-shooting-remarks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9e8f00de8a151b0/69889b27cf40a85200c43ece/obama-dallas-shooting-remarks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Makes Statement On Afghanistan At White House","caption":"President Obama Makes Statement On Afghanistan At White House","creditText":"Win McNamee/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4398185/barack-obama-remarks-dallas-police-shooting/","name":"Read President Obama's Remarks About the Dallas Police Shooting"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Obama Condemns ‘Vicious, Calculated and Despicable’ Dallas Shootings","description":"U.S. President Barack Obama called the shootings in Dallas which saw five police officers killed and at least six others injured a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement.”","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/D0Y6yfbw/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-07-08T13:31:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/D0Y6yfbw.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4398185/barack-obama-remarks-dallas-police-shooting/","duration":"PT3M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4398185/barack-obama-remarks-dallas-police-shooting/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```