Innocent Man 'Identified' As Dallas Shooting Suspect After Police Tweet His Picture

This innocent man has been on the receiving end of 'death threats' after Dallas police tweeted his picture and referred to him as a 'suspect' in the shootings.

Mark Hughes had attended the anti-police brutality protest that took place yesterday evening. People took to the streets after the deaths at the hands of police of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile.

Snipers opened fire on police officers; five lost their lives, with at least another seven people being injured in the process.

Dallas Police Department tweeted the following image which (at the time of writing) is still live on their Twitter account.

As you can see, Mark was carrying a rifle. However, in Texas, this is legal to carry. According to his brother, the gun - which he has since said was unloaded - was brought along to the protest simply to exercise his Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

This may have been an ill-advised move on his part.

Anyway, Mark was cleared without charges and he even claimed that he had been 'talking to police, laughing and joking with police officers' earlier that day.

He told CBS Dallas: "We received a phone call that my face was there on a suspect and I immediately flagged down a police officers."

Shocked, he explained that he had been taken in for questioning, but was released after just half an hour.

He addressed the police directly during the interview, saying: "Y'all have my faces on national news. Are y'all gonna come out and say that this young man had nothing to do with it?"

"We've been getting death threats."

Tensions are high in America after two black males were shot dead at the hands of police. Alton Sterling had been selling CDs in Louisiana on Tuesday. Video footage showed him being restrained on the floor while a police officer shot him in the chest at point-blank range.

Philandro Castile was pulled over during a traffic stop in Minnesota on Wednesday. He too was shot dead by a police officer. His girlfriend live-streamed the aftermath on Facebook. Their daughter was sat in the backseat during the whole ordeal.

Words by Mel Ramsay

Featured image credit: Twitter

Mel Ramsay

Mel Ramsay has been a Senior Journalist for Tyla and LADbible since 2015. She started her career writing obituaries and funeral guides online. Since then, her work has been published in a wide variety of national and local news sites. She is part of the BBC's Generation project and has spoken about young people, politics and mental health on television, radio and online. Contact her - [email protected]

@melramsay_