Police Use Unprecedented Robot Bomb To Kill Dallas Sniper

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Here in Southern California, we've seen police use bomb-disposal robots to check out suspicious packages, use them for crime-scene surveillance, help in hostage situations, and of course, defuse bombs.

These robots have been part of police tactical equipment for years, but when a robot was used to deliver the bomb that killed the suspected shooter in Dallas on Thursday, it is believed to have been the first time that one was used to intentionally kill someone.

Dallas police say they used a bomb robot to take out Micah Johnson because they had no other choice.

"Negotiations broke down, and we had an exchange of gunfire with the suspect; we saw no other option," Dallas police Chief David Brown said.

Federal law enforcement sources believe it delivered a small explosive typically used by SWAT teams to "breach" or blow open a door.

It's a tactic used very rarely by the military, and likely for the first time by U.S. law enforcement.

Last June, Dallas police used a bomb robot to detonate pipe bombs inside a suspect's van.

"You don't know if he's wearing explosives. He's killed five of your officers," former FBI hostage negotiator Mary Ellen O'Toole said.

The president of the California Association of Tactical Officers said deploying a robot as a weapon is unprecedented but that the concept isn't new.

He said during his time at the LA County Sheriff's Department, they talked about and actually practiced this scenario 20 years ago, they just never used it.