As a gunman opened fire Thursday evening in downtown Dallas intent on killing police officers, HBO’s Bill Maher asked Republicans to consider supporting black victims of police violence in lieu of law enforcement.

“Hey, Republicans looking for some credibility with minorities as you get behind Trump: maybe ONCE take the side of shot black people over the cops,” Mr. Maher said on social media.

The remarks were shared by the “Real Time” host Thursday night on both Twitter and Facebook shortly after reports surfaced of a mass shooting underway in downtown Dallas. Five police officers were pronounced dead as a result of the ambush by the time gunman Micah Johnson was killed in a stand-off the following morning.

Johnson, a 25-year-old African-American Army veteran, reportedly told police that he was motivated in part by “the recent police shootings,” an apparent reference to incidents that unfolded in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier in the week that both ended with black men being killed by law enforcement.

The slayings were condemned Thursday afternoon by President Obama, who said “all fair-minded people should be concerned” with the recent rash of fatal officer-involved shootings.

“When incidents like this occur, there is a big chunk of our fellow citizenry that feels as if because of the color of their skin they are not being treated the same. And that hurts. And that should trouble all of us,” Mr. Obama said Thursday, hours before the Dallas ambush occurred. “This is not just a black issue, not just a Hispanic issue. This is an American issue.”

Mr. Trump, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, failed to immediately respond after two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were fatally shot by police on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, respectively. In a statement issued Friday, however, Mr. Trump condemned the “senseless, tragic deaths of two motorists in Louisiana and Minnesota” while commenting on the “brutal attack on our police force” in Dallas.

“We must stand in solidarity with law enforcement, which we must remember is the force between civilization and total chaos,” Mr. Trump said in a video statement.

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