SALT LAKE CITY — The sniper shooting in Dallas on Thursday that left five police officers dead reopened Nannette Wride's lingering wounds from the death of her husband more than two years ago.

All those feelings of sadness, despair and anger came flooding back to the widow of Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Cory Wride.

"Last night, I was a hot mess. I just cried a ton and I was just so sad," she said. "And this morning I'm pissed. The anger just doesn't even touch the surface. There's so much hate out there and it's absolutely for no reason. There's so much disrespect for firefighters, police officers, teachers … anybody who's helping the public."

Wride, whose husband was shot and killed while checking on what he thought were stranded motorists in January 2014, wasn't alone in having tender feelings come to the surface.

"Maybe we've hit the bottom here," Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder said, becoming emotional at a press conference Friday. "I am disgusted, I am disheartened, and I am extremely, extremely sad."

The deadly gunfire broke out in Dallas after a video showing two black men being shot by police in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week prompted rallies and debate about police use of force across the country.

Five police officers died and seven were injured in the sniper attack. The shooting ended when a Dallas police bomb squad robot killed a gunman after negotiations failed.

Salt Lake Police Chief Mike Brown described the shooting as tragic, horrific and senseless, calling for more meaningful interaction between police and residents to help prevent something like that from happening in Salt Lake City.

"It is hard to hate up close. We as a community need to come together, both citizens and police officers. We need to get out of our cars, we need to walk up and talk. We need to engage. We need to establish those relationships," he said.

Winder sounded a similar note, saying his emotions fluctuated but settled on frustration.

"Our community has got to recognize that what we're doing is creating this environment. You can be as mad as you want and it doesn't solve it. You can be as sad as you want to be and it doesn't solve it. What we've got to be able to do is figure out what's next."

Like most Americans, Winder watched chaos and confusion in Dallas unfold on television. He described the scene Friday as "urban warfare," with officers targeted "because of the clothes they wore."

Now, Winder said he is contemplating the role of law enforcement officers and ways to repair their relationships with the public. Many believe that responsibility lies with police, Winder said, and while he agrees that law enforcement has a high obligation to fix the problem, nothing can be achieved without the public doing its part as well.

"The police should rise above our sociological problems. We should be held to a higher standard, but I would say this also: We live in a time and an age in our country in which many of us have lost sight of the simple decency that is supposed to exist between human beings," the sheriff said.

If people don't start treating each other better, the country will be in serious trouble, he said. Social media allows people to say the vilest things, and that has an effect on society.

"We need to humanize each other rather than dehumanize each other," Winder said. "It sounds like hyperbole, but I tell you, that's the solution — one-on-one communication."

Boyd Matheson, president of Sutherland Institute, in a Facebook video said individuals, communities need to look in the mirror of self-evaluation.

"Do we need to hug it out as a nation? Yes, but that's not enough. Do we need to talk it out as communities? Yes, but that's not enough. Do we need to listen it out with people who are different than us? Yes, but we will still need more," he said.

But beyond that, Matheson said, people must re-examine their rhetoric, strengthen their families, treat people who are different than them with respect and kindness, admit when they're wrong and look for ways to serve.

If people were to act on one of those today, they would begin to heal the wounds in families, neighborhoods and the nation," he said.

Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox posted this on Twitter: "Good morning America. PLEASE avoid picking a side today. Let's be FOR the black men and brave officers. Let's be AGAINST senseless death."

Jeanetta Williams, president of the Utah chapter of the NAACP, expressed sympathy for Dallas police, their families and victims of the "senseless" killings.

"We believe that these shootings were in retaliation of the two shootings of African-American men this week by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota. All lives matter and we do not condone these shootings or any attacks on law enforcement officers," she said in a prepared statement.

Prior to the events in Dallas, two groups scheduled rallies on Saturday in Salt Lake City in response to the Louisiana and Minnesota shootings.

A group supporting Black Lives Matter plans to demonstrate outside Salt Lake police headquarters at noon. Utahns Against Police Brutality intends to gather at 6 p.m. at the same location.

At the protests planned for Saturday, Brown said Salt Lake police will maintain a standard but vigilant presence.

According to Brown, the department has met regularly with the two groups ever since an officer shot and wounded 17-year-old Abdullahi Mohamed on Feb. 27 near the homeless shelter on Rio Grande Street. The incident sparked a brief riot in the crowded street.

"We have come a long way. We have (come) to a point where we know them, they know us, we talk, we listen, they listen, they understand. We have invested a lot of time with these groups," the chief said.

Those seeking change have a right to protest that should be protected, Brown said. He added, however, "Perhaps there's a better way where we can all sit down face to face and talk about issues and problems. That's where solutions come."

Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, urged people to focus on what really matters, the value of human life.

"The only way we can find our way out of the morass of this poisonous environment is to come together as a nation, and declare that we are better than this. We will put value of life ahead of all else," she said in a statement.

Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, expressed his respect and appreciation for police officers in a statement.

"We are reminded today of the good men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe," he said. "God bless them, God bless their families. Please join me in thanking a police officer today and praying for the families of those killed."

Wride intends to send mentors to the officers' widows through her Blue Haven Foundation, an organization formed to help surviving spouses of law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.

Basically, widows like her talk and listen to other widows and give them a sense of hope and love. They tell them their husbands didn't have to die in vain.

Wride said consoling others is bittersweet, but "I heal and she heals at the same time."

Brown and Winder plan to take a contingent of officers together to any memorial service to be held in Texas.

"We're going to take Salt Lake's emotions to Dallas," Winder said.

Gov. Gary Herbert ordered flags lowered to half-staff at state buildings.

"My prayers are with the Dallas Police Department and our law enforcement community at this time," he said in a statement. "Last night's attack serves as a painful and heartbreaking reminder of just how much our public safety officers sacrifice to protect each one of us."

Social media reactions to the shooting

Contributing: Shara Park, Peter Samore

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