Among Dallas sniper victims: A newlywed, a veteran, parents

One slain officer was a newlywed. Another had survived multiple tours in Iraq, only to be killed back home in the US. A protester who doesn’t normally march was shot trying to shield her sons.

The stories of those killed or wounded in a sniper attack in Dallas during a protest over recent police shootings of black men emerged on Friday as their identities became known. Authorities say five officers were killed and seven others wounded in the deadliest day for US law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Two civilians also were shot.

Killed: Officer Michael Smith, 55

Michael Smith was the one always standing guard by the tree fort in the vast lobby of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, where he worked as a uniformed security officer in recent years, greeting parents and kids and ushering them on to their Sunday programmes. On the church’s Facebook page Friday, members recalled him handing out Dallas police department stickers to their kids, or running after them down the hallway, or showing them his police cruiser.

“He was outgoing but also very tender and unassuming,” said Wes Butler, the director of family and children’s ministries at Watermark. “He was just there, you know? People naturally engaged with him. He was one of the good guys, the one you’d hope your kids would go to if they ran into trouble.”

One member recalled how Smith mentored him when he was deciding to become a police officer, and later, too, when he decided to leave the force.