Photographer recounts facing Dallas gunman

Waiting outside a federal courthouse, photographer Tom Fox took in Dallas' 8 a.m. bustle. People dressed for work got out of cars. A homeless man danced on a street pole.

But when what initially sounded like a truck backfiring clarified into gunshots, the routine assignment for a veteran journalist morphed in a moment.

As shots echoed off the tall buildings, an armed officer dashed past The Dallas Morning News photographer. A man came around the corner half a block away and Fox pulled out his long lens — focusing in on green military-style garb, a mask and a belt full of ammunition. The gun barrel swung around. Fox squeezed off a last frame. And he ran for cover behind a column in the building's façade.

Members of the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshal's Service tend to the downed shooter after shots were fired Monday morning, June 17, 2019 at the Earle Cabell federal courthouse in Dallas. Law enforcement returned fire and the shooter was hit by gunfire and was pronounced dead at a hospital following the shooting. No officers or citizens were injured. (Tom FoxThe Dallas Morning News via AP)

"I was just praying in that corner that he wasn't going to pass me," Fox, 51, told The Associated Press. "I was just afraid he was going to be running with a gun. He was going to pass me, see me, identify me with the camera and shoot me."

The images Fox made offer a rare in-the-moment glimpse of the type of shooting American journalists have become accustomed to covering after the gunfire has stopped. In capturing the gunman approaching the doors of the federal building, Fox said he acted on instinct reinforced by his colleagues' experiences blocks away a few years earlier.

Brian Isaack Clyde's assault on the Earle Cabell Federal Building marks downtown Dallas' second high-profile shooting by a U.S. Army veteran in less than three years. In July 2016, Micah Johnson shot and killed five law enforcement officers and wounded nine others before police killed him. But Clyde was the only fatality Monday.

Security officers, left, and a member of the U.S. Marshal's Service, right, head towards the downed shooter after shots were fired Monday morning, June 17, 2019 at the Earle Cabell federal courthouse in Dallas. A masked gunman opened fire Monday at the Earle Cabell federal courthouse before being fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire with federal officers, witnesses and authorities said. No officers or citizens were injured. (Tom FoxThe Dallas Morning News via AP)

"I don't think, if it wasn't for the July 7th shootings, that I would have known how to react," said Fox. "It was just instinctual."

Officials have praised the training and courage of the Federal Protective Service officers who confronted Clyde, saying their actions likely prevented many more deaths. But little information has emerged on what motivated the attack.

On what appeared to be his Facebook page, Clyde posted frequently about weapons. A post on Sunday with a photo of a short sword has the caption: "A modern gladius to defend the modern Republic." A Saturday post features a photo of gun magazines.

Shattered glass in the entry doors after shots were fired Monday, June 17, 2019 at the Earle Cabell federal courthouse in Dallas. A masked gunman opened fire Monday at the federal courthouse before being fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire with federal officers, witnesses and authorities said. No officers or citizens were injured. (Tom FoxThe Dallas Morning News via AP)

He captioned a video posted June 9 — the day a severe storm hit Dallas: "This storm is about to pay for kicking me off my porch." In that video Clyde talks to the camera in a candle-lit room. He says, "I don't know how much longer I have, but the ... storm is coming. However, I'm not without defense." He then lifts a long gun, saying he's "ready" and "Let's do it."

Federal authorities have not confirmed the authenticity of the Facebook page, which was taken down Monday after the shooting. Fox said the man pictured in it is the same person he saw at the courthouse.

After graduating from high school in Austin in 2015, Clyde went into the U.S. Army. He served as an infantryman from August 2015 to February 2017 and achieved the rank of private first class, according to the Army.

An armed shooter stands near the Earle Cabell Federal Building Monday, June 17, 2019, in downtown Dallas. The shooter was hit and injured in an exchange of gunfire with federal officers outside the courthouse. (Tom FoxThe Dallas Morning News) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES, MAGS OUT, TV OUT, INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY

Clyde graduated from Corpus Christi community college last month. He was recognized as an outstanding student at a ceremony in April, according to a statement from Del Mar College.

Gabriel Wadsworth, who was stationed with Clyde at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, expressed shock at the news

"Nobody knew that he would have done something like this," Wadsworth told The Dallas Morning News.

Crouched in his corner, Fox listened to the sounds of gunfire and shattering glass. A video shows bullets strike the wall above him.

Fox began to record video, but said the shots were louder in person than they ever are on the screen.

"It was very intense, and it seemed like it wasn't going to stop," he said. "I just waited and waited and waited for almost an eternity."

When an officer eventually appeared across the street, Fox said he was determined to find the gunman and "crept along" with police through a nearby parking lot.

Fox said he didn't see Clyde get shot. "The last I saw him was in my camera lens down the street, and I'm thankful that I never saw him until I saw him lying face down in the parking lot," he said.

As officers in blue surgical gloves cared for Clyde, Fox told his editor that there'd been a shooting and texted in a smartphone photo.

Fox said police told him to stay on the scene. But before he went in for an FBI interview, the 29-year-Dallas Morning News veteran said he met a colleague on a corner and handed off his cameras' memory cards.

"My photos were already being worked up before I got back to the paper," he said.

Associated Press writer Jamie Stengle contributed reporting.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)