The 1968 Washington DC riots occurred from 4 to 8 April 1968 in Washington DC in reaction to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.. The city's African-American population, egged on by Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael, armed themselves and began to attack stores which refused to close out of "respect", and, through to 14 April, arsonists set 1,180 fires in the city. Carmichael claimed that white America had declared war on black America, that there was no alternative to retribution, and that the only way that blacks could survive would be through getting guns. Black mobs destroyed stores and even set fires as close to two blocks away from the White House. On 5 April, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in 13,600 federal troops (including the US National Guard) to assist the overwhelmed local police, and, by the end of the riots on 8 April, 13 people had been killed by fires, policemen, or rioters, 1,097 were injured, and 7,600 were arrested.