The sniper suspect, who believed killed five police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest Thursday night was an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. 


Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, who Dallas police identified as a suspect in a press release, served in the U.S. Army from 2009 to 2015 and was deployed to Afghanistan from September 2013 to August 2014, according to his service history records, which were obtained by PEOPLE.

Johnson, of Mesquite, Texas, a suburb east of Dallas, was awarded several medals and ribbons, including the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. He had no criminal history, the release states.

According to the release, detectives found in his house "bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics. Detectives are in the process of analyzing the information contained in the journal."

According to the release, "others have identified Johnson as a loner." 

The release states that one of the Facebook names Johnson uses on his Facebook account, GRIFFIN, "embraces a radical form of Afrocentrism." 


Johnson's family could not be reached for comment.