Somerville Officer Wounded In 2010 Shootout Reflects On Dallas: 'Violence Is The Last Thing A Cop Wants'

SOMERVILLE (CBS) - Mario Oliveira's stomach turned to knots this morning when he heard that five Dallas police officers had been shot an killed.

Oliveira is a retired Somerville cop who was shot six times by a gunrunner in 2010.

"I basically died two times," he says. "But the Almighty and my will to come home to my family kept me alive, along with great doctors."

Now, Oliveira heads up an organization called Concerns of Police Survivors, which helps wounded and injured cops. Oliveira has seen a growing racial divide in the country and growing tension.

"Police live in a fishbowl already, you're under a microscope," he said. "And now it seems the public is after you."

Oliveira says he's watched the horrific shootings of civilians lately and the resulting protests. But he says many people don't realize that cops try to avoid confrontations.

"Cops don't want to go to combat with people. Our goal is to talk our way out of things, to resolve it with words. We call it verbal judo," he said. "Violence is the last thing a cop wants."