Dallas protest organizer recalls the moment he heard gunshots

ajc.com

Credit: Jennifer Brett

Credit: Jennifer Brett

DALLAS - Metro Atlanta native Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood organized the Thursday night protests in Dallas that ended in gunfire. Five officers died and more were wounded.

ajc.com

Credit: Jennifer Brett

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Credit: Jennifer Brett

"For maybe a millisecond I thought, maybe this is fireworks," Hood said. "It became very apparent very quickly that it was shots. I was screaming, run, run, run!"

He recalls seeing officers after they were hit.

"I saw two officers on the ground right after they got shot. All I knew to do was pray, scream and get people out of there," Hood said. "We were marching right into the gunfire. I was close enough to think that I might have gotten shot."

According to Hood’s bio he is a graduate of Auburn University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, University of Alabama and Creighton University and holds a Doctorate of Ministry in Queer Theology at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. The married father of five describes himself as “a radical mystic and prophetic voice to a closed society” and espouses “a belief that God is calling us to something queerer.”

We talked to him in downtown Dallas, near where the shootings occurred:

Dallas protest organizer Rev Jeff Hood (a Clayton County native) discusses the sniper attacks

Posted by Jennifer Brett/Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday, July 8, 2016