Suspect shot after gun and bomb attack at Dallas police headquarters

DALLAS (Reuters) - A man suspected of a gun and bomb attack outside Dallas Police headquarters in the early hours of Saturday was shot and possibly killed by snipers a few hours later.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said police snipers shot the suspect through the windshield of a van in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant about 10 miles (16 km) south of the city. A robot would be deployed to check the van for explosives before officers go to see whether the man is dead, he said.

No one else was believed to have been hurt in the attack which happened at around 12:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) after police responded to reports of automatic gunfire from what was described as an armoured van outside their headquarters.

Initial eyewitness reports that up to four assailants were involved proved to be unfounded and police believe there was only one attacker, Brown said. His motive was unclear, but the suspect had earlier threatened to kill police officers, he said.

At the incident unfolded, two devices exploded outside the police HQ. The first was a pipe bomb that went off when a police robot attempted to move it. A second device, placed under a police vehicle, was detonated by a bomb squad.

When police closed in on the van, it rammed a squad car and gunfire erupted. The van drove off as police returned fire and officers gave chase, Brown said.

The van stopped in the restaurant parking lot in the city of Hutchins, where there was another exchange of gunfire. Police said they surrounded the van and managed to disable it with a high-powered rifle.

Brown said police negotiators had spoken with someone inside the van, who identified himself as James Boulware.

The police chief said they had not yet been able to confirm the identity of the man, but said police had responded previously to three incidents of domestic violence involving a man with that name.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)