Videos posted to Facebook on Thursday, July 7, captured the scene in El Centro College in Dallas as gunfire rang out through the hallways. The videos, posted by Patrick Cooper, also show armed police responding to the scene. At least five officers were killed in Dallas on Thursday when gunmen opened fire during a Black Lives Matter protest in the city. Credit: Facebook/Patrick Cooper

US TX: Gunfire Rings Out In Corridors of El Centro College in Dallas July 07

A MOTHER-OF-FOUR was caught up in the crossfire in the fatal Dallas shootings, while trying to shield her sons from flying bullets.

Shetamia Taylor, 37, was at the peaceful rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday night with her four teenage sons between the ages of 12 and 17.

When two snipers opened fire on 11 police during the protest march, killing five officers and wounding six others, she was one of two civilians wounded. She was shot in the right calf.

Taylor’s sister Theresa Williams said that when the shooting began, Taylor threw herself over her sons as they tried to run for their safety.

MORE: A silent salute among tributes to Dallas’ fallen police heroes

Williams said two of Taylor’s sons became separated from their mother in the chaotic aftermath.

She said they were stuck behind a police barricade at a hotel near a parking garage where police exchanged gunfire with a suspect.

She was undergoing surgery early on Friday after being shot and is expected to recover.

Shetamia Taylor was leaving the rally with her 4 boys when she was shot in the calf. #DallasPoliceShooting #WFAA pic.twitter.com/gJ0uHC6UJ8 — Sonia Azad (@SoniaAzadTV) July 8, 2016

Police say five officers were killed and seven were wounded in the shootings that occurred at a protest over recent fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana, in a week that bore dark echoes of the tumultuous civil rights era.

Several hundred people attended the Dallas rally, which ended just before the shots rang out around 9pm local time.

US President Barack Obama denounced the “despicable” attacks in Dallas.

“We still don’t know all the facts. What we do know is that there has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement,” Obama told a press conference at a NATO summit in Warsaw.

“Police in Dallas were on duty doing their jobs keeping people safe during peaceful protests ... we are praying for their recovery.”

Obama added that the officers were “targeted” by several suspects in the “tremendous tragedy.” “According to police, there are multiple suspects. We will learn more undoubtedly about their twisted motivations,” he said.

“Let’s be clear. There is no possible justification for these kinds of attacks or any violence against law enforcement.

“Anyone involved in the senseless murders will be held fully accountable. Justice will be done.”