again, I'm sitting there, I'm like, 'Homicide?' And when the door opened, it reminded me of First 48 or something. I think of every police officer that was in that room, was staring me, was like, 'Yeah, we got him.' 

JD MILES: And so, at that moment, you thought you were going to be, you know, implicated in this horrific murder.

HUGHES: Oh, absolutely.

Both the police chief and mayor went public with Hughes' arrest.

 I was very numb to the situation,  said Hughes.  They took me into an interrogation room. They were asking me questions, and one question they asked me was 'How long you and your brother wanted to kill police officers?' And of course, I'm like, 'Wait, what y'all saying?' 

Later in the night, SWAT officers killed the actual shooter with an explosive.

JD MILES: Did you have any knowledge of Micah Johnson or ever meet him or know him?

HUGHES: Not at all. I don't even think that he was a part of that protest.

After several hours in police custody, Hughes was released without an apology or even a public declaration of his innocence.

 And that's what DPD did. They pretty much took my image at that point in time and shattered it,  said Hughes.

JD MILES: Did DPD or the City of Dallas ever officially clear you?

HUGHES: Not at all.

Hughes says his business suffered, and he was spat on by a stranger outside his office. His lawsuit against the city was dismissed, and since then, he has gotten married and started rebuilding his life.

While he was able to use his ordeal to speak out on race and gun issues, Hughes says the city's leaders at the time only validated what he was protesting about on that dark night.

JD MILES: What does Mark Hughes want to say to the city of Dallas about all this?

HUGHES: You got to do better, city. Dallas has to do better. And that goes from the mayor to the police department ... I'm grateful that I was able to survive it. And now I'm just. I'm just building my life and moving on past it