Dallas Shooting: The moment a police officer was ambushed, shot and killed by gunmen

FOOTAGE emerges of the moment one of the Dallas gunmen shot and killed a policeman. WARNING: Graphic, distressing content

WARNING: Story contains graphic, distressing content that may upset readers.

GRAPHIC video footage from eyewitnesses has emerged of the moment a police officer attempted to shoot one of the Dallas gunmen.

But when he opened fire, the bullet bounced off his armoured vest. The gunmen then turned around and killed the policeman at point-blank range.

The footage taken from a building opposite the shootout shows a gunman hiding behind a large concrete pillar as a policeman comes up from behind.

when he fires a shot at the gunman’s back, it bounces off, leaving him still alive and standing.

The gunman then shoots the policeman.

Witness Ismael Dejesus shot video broadcast by FOX and CNN that shows the ambush of several officers. One of the shootings is just off camera, DallasNews.com reports.

“It looked like an execution honestly,” Dejesus said.

“He stood over him after he was already down and shot him three or four more times.”

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Witness Ismael Dejesus joins @donlemon to share the video he captured of the #Dallas shooting https://t.co/oBmEIv09rk

— CNN (@CNN) July 8, 2016

Dallas was in shock and beset by uncertainty after gunmen shot and killed five police officers and wounded seven others including two civilians during a peaceful protest over fatal police shootings of black men in other states, police said, in bloodshed evoking the trauma of the nation’s tumultuous civil rights era.

Police Chief David Brown blamed “snipers” and said three suspects were in custody while a fourth had exchanged gunfire with authorities in a parking garage downtown and told negotiators he intended to hurt more law enforcement officials.

The shooting began about 8.45pm Thursday while hundreds of people were gathered to protest the week’s fatal police shootings week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota. Brown told reporters the snipers fired “ambush style” on the officers.