El Centro College Repairs Will Cost More Than $585,000
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - After the deadly police shooting in downtown Dallas this summer, the rebuilding of El Centro College will cost more than $585,000. That includes repairs to a hallway that was blown apart this past July when authorities used an explosive device to kill attacker Micah Johnson.
The confrontation took place on the school's second floor. Johnson opened fire on officers during a downtown protest and ran inside of the campus building to hide. Two officers from El Centro College followed a trail of blood to a stairwell. Johnson shot at them as well. The walls of the stairwell were patched up back in July.
"He didn't care who was in his way, but his focus was on police uniforms," said Chief Joseph Hannigan with the Dallas County Community College District. The night ended with five police officers dead and 11 other people wounded. "He was shooting for any officers that would move."
Johnson made his way to the second floor library, where he continued to fire shots at people outside down below. Authorities were pinned down, forced to take cover behind vehicles. "There was nowhere for him to go," Hannigan continued. Police were able to push Johnson to the end of a second floor hallway.
Unwilling to surrender, Johnson released a stream of bullets that prevented officers from make a safe approach. Police sent in a robot carrying a bomb, and detonated the device remotely. It was the only way to end the gunfight, explained David Brown, former chief of the Dallas Police Department.
When students and media were allowed back into the building following the shootout, the school hallway was still riddled with bullet holes, and the ceiling was still damaged from the bomb's explosion. Repair costs have now been added up to more than $585,000. The Dallas County Community College District said that its insurance carrier has accepted all of the charges for the rebuilding project.
The school is waiting for a second structural analysis by engineers before construction begins. If all goes according to plan, the rebuilding should be finished up when the spring semester begins in January.
Classes at the downtown community college resumed a few days after the incident. Both teachers and students were excited to be back on campus, but found themselves reluctant to think about the awful horror that took place that night on the building's second floor.
