Trained by the best to use weapons of war, a bloodthirsty killer who once served in Afghanistan brought guns, ammo and body armor to ambush cops in downtown Dallas.
Micah Johnson, 25, was toting an SKS semi-automatic assault rifle and a handgun Thursday night when he shot a dozen cops, killing five of them. Two protesters were also shot and wounded.
Some who served with the former Army reservist said he was odd and a bit of a pervert — but none could fathom that the decorated military man was a domestic killing machine.
“We all knew he was a pervert cuz he got caught stealing girls’ panties but murdering cops is a different story,” Wells Newsome, a former bunkmate of Johnson’s, wrote on Facebook. “You really never know what someone is capable of until it’s too late.”
Luis Canto, another fellow reservist, said Johnson had an erratic personality.
“We all knew he was off, man, but no idea he was capable of that,” Canto wrote on Facebook.
The cold-blooded cop executions carried out by Johnson, who had no criminal record or ties to political or terror groups, left his relatives reeling.
“I keep saying it’s not true,” Johnson’s sister Nicole said in a Facebook post. “My eyes hurt from crying. Y him??? And why was he downtown.”
In the killer’s home, investigators found a massive cache of weapons — bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics, authorities said.
Johnson was well trained. He served as an Army reservist for six years until 2015 and was deployed to Afghanistan between November 2013 and July 2014.
He was a carpentry and masonry specialist, with a rank of private first class, and was awarded the Army Achievement Medal.
Before cops used a bomb attached to a robot to kill Johnson, he told police he wanted to kill as many white people as possible, especially white cops. He was enraged after two black men were killed by police in Louisiana and Minnesota.
His sister, Nicole Johnson, made it clear a day before the massacre that she shared some of her brother’s anti-cop views. “These cops need to get a taste of the life we now fear,” she wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “White ppl have and will continue to kill us off. The only difference is they serve the system hiding behind that blue suit and get off easy murdering civilians.”
An aunt confirmed to NBC News that Micah Johnson — who worked as an aide for mentally-challenged children and adults — was simmering over the recent slayings of black civilians. “I think a person can only take so much,” the aunt said. “Did [he] go too far? Yeah.”
Alfred Mimms, who met Johnson online, described him as a “typical pro-black advocate” who was dismayed by systemic racism in America.
“He didn’t seem like a few people I know who are anti-white; he just seemed really distraught,” Mimms, 28, told the Daily News.
“I think he was secretly planning something like this and waiting for the right opportunity.”
The cop killer’s Facebook profile picture (left) shows him dressed in a dashiki and holding a clenched fist in the air in a Black Power salute.
He shows support for several groups associated with black nationalism, including the Black Riders Liberation Party and the New Black Panther Party.
In one photo, he’s seen greeting Professor Griff of Public Enemy.
Late Friday, Griff, whose real name is Richard Griffin, denied knowing Johnson.
“I will not sit back and let these people assassinate my character and tie me to the Dallas shootings,” he wrote on Twitter.
“The police and FBI have been watching me and tapping my phone they know who I talk too, I DO NOT KNOW THE SHOOTER. I do not advocate killing Cops.”
Johnson’s stepmother Donna Ferrier Johnson, who is white, posted a picture of him on Facebook decked out in fatigues and driving a military vehicle.
Dallas police detectives were inside Johnson’s single-family brick home in Mesquite, about 12 miles outside Dallas, for several hours Friday.
Dallas police said people who knew Johnson “identified him as a loner.”
Neighbors said Johnson was quiet and pleasant but largely kept to himself.
Jowanda Alexander, 36, recalled Johnson stopping by her house about six months ago to complain about her daughter messing with his mailbox.
“He came real nice and friendly — he wasn’t aggressive,” Alexander said. “He just came and told what happened and he went on about his business. It’s really unbelievable. I’m shaken by this,” she added.
Joseph Stepansky reported from Mesquite, Tex.
With Thomas Tracy, Mary McDonnell
