COEUR d'ALENE — Shots fired Thursday night in Dallas were felt Friday in Coeur d’Alene.

Whether they were headed back to work, enjoying a day at The Coeur d'Alene Resort or spending time with a loved one, locals in the downtown area were asked to share their reactions to the sniper incident that killed five police officers, wounded seven others and injured two civilians at a peaceful protest.

• Twins Kenzie and Maddie Lauritzen, 17, of Coeur d'Alene, stopped at Front Avenue and Third Street to express their feelings about the tragedy.

"I think it's really unfortunate," Kenzie said. "It's too bad that it happened directly following the shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. I think it's too bad because a lot of those officers, it's not like they were involved in those shootings."

Maddie said the attack at the peaceful protest only makes things worse.

"It's violence on violence," she said. "It's not actually solving a problem."

• Sheri White of Cataldo stopped to talk to The Press near the Coeur d'Alene Public Library. She said it was extremely unfortunate that race issues fueled this tragedy.

"We're all Americans," she said. "Whatever your race is, aren't we all in this together? It is unfortunate police officers (in Minnesota and Louisiana) had to shoot a man of color, but I don't know if it was necessarily because he was a man of color versus a man who was committing a crime. Whether that man was white, black, Asian, Hispanic, whatever you want to say, wouldn't the point be that the police officers are doing their job? ... Instead of looking at it as a crime issue, you're making it a race issue, and I don't understand where it needs to be a race issue. We live in a country where it's a melting pot. Isn't that the point?"

• Near Fourth Street and Sherman Avenue, Corey Schneider, 24, of Coeur d'Alene, said violence is no way to solve these issues.

"Regardless of what race you are or where you're at in any part of the country, I don't believe in taking another human life," Schneider said. "No matter what your beliefs are or what it is, things can always be worked out on a level of talking. It doesn't seem to go that way; it's more like a perfect-world scenario, but it is possible."

• Mark Messer and his wife, Susan, of Coeur d'Alene, had just heard the news as they walked north on Fourth Street.

"The problem with what's going on is our lovely president has destroyed racial unity," Mark said. "We did not have this problem until basically in his second term. He has destroyed our togetherness, our coexistence, and it's a shame. They've made the police the bad guy when in fact, they're here to protect us. That's what they're here for, they're here to help us, they're not here to harm anybody. It's nice to have a cop around.

"Our blood is all the same color," he added.

Susan said her first reaction was that "when one of us hurts, we all hurt."

"It doesn't matter what color we are, it doesn't matter where we live, where we come from. When one of us hurts, we all hurt," she said. "We need to get back to 'when you hurt, I hurt.' That's what we need to do."

• Chris Cook, 27, of Hayden, said he wants to believe that law enforcement is helpful, but he understands people's frustration with police and why the hostility exists.

"Obviously, the sniper himself was in the wrong, but I do feel that the police are far more aggressive than they should be," he said. "I feel like it's just been getting worse every year, more police brutality and more reaction toward the police brutality causing more animosity between the two. I do want to believe the police in whole are here to help, but I have a hard time feeling that way when they always react violently to peaceful protests and such."

• Brad Borley of Rathdrum summed it up this way:

"It's very sad. I think the violence in our country has escalated to a level that's just gotten out of control. I feel for the police force as well. They have a tough job and things like this just make it tougher and I would imagine all cops are just on edge from all these things happening all the time. If I was a cop, I would be scared, even in a small town like this.

"It's just a sad event that's happening more often, and the cops have a tough job that's getting tougher as more of these things happen. There's been so many shootings lately and they're all just awful. It's just getting out of control. Every day, it seems like you hear about another shooting."