DALLAS—Officer Jorge Barrientos never saw the gunman.
The assailant announced himself with a loud, single burst of fire from a rifle, just as Barrientos and his colleagues from the Fox Trot Unit of the Dallas Police Department were finishing directing traffic away from protesters at a march downtown.
The shot hit Officer Michael Krol, who stood just a few feet away from Barrientos. Krol screamed and fell to the ground.
Then the bullets began to fly.
They whizzed to the left and right, over his head and seemingly from every direction. Barrientos, 28, dropped to the ground, trying to make his way toward Krol and get cover. Not far away, two other officers from his unit lay shot and bleeding.
What followed were long, desperate moments to try and save his fellow officers. Ultimately, three men from his unit were among the five officers killed in Thursday’s attack, which also left at least nine officers and two civilians wounded.
“These were my brothers,” Barrientos said Sunday as he recovered at home from a bullet wound to his left hand, which was wrapped in a bundle of gauze. “I’m frustrated because I couldn’t do more.”
