Baton Rouge shooter was former Marine, justified Dallas killings
FIGHTING FOR BLACKS Former sergeant denied IS link in one of his online posts
WASHINGTON/KANSASCITY: The gunman who killed three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday was a former US Marine sergeant who served in Iraq and made the dean’s list in college, government officials with knowledge of the case said.
The suspect, Gavin Eugene Long, 29, who also wounded three other officers, was from Kansas City, Missouri, a source familiar with the investigation said. He was divorced and living in a working-class neighbourhood, and Missouri records show he had no criminal history.
The city has become a flashpoint for protests after police shot and killed Alton Sterling, a black man, outside a convenience store there on July 5.
A website, social media accounts and YouTube videos that appear tied to Long include complaints about police abuse of African-Americans and indicate he recently joined demonstrations in Dallas, where a black former US Army reservist killed five officers two days after Sterling’s death.
In a YouTube video, Long praised the killing of the Dallas officers and said, “It’s justice.” He also posted a separate video on July 8, in which he described himself as a former Christian, former member of the Nation of Islam and then repeatedly stated he was now not affiliated with any group.
“They’ll try to put you with ISIS or some other terrorist group,” he said. “No. I’m affiliated with the spirit of justice. Nothing else.”
A website named “convoswithcosmo” that features selfhelp, health and relationship
I swear to God I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me...In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat ... Please don’t let hate infect your heart. This city MUST and WILL get better
advice was owned by a Gavin Long at a Kansas City address, according to online records. As of Sunday night, police in Kansas City had cordoned off the block where that address is located. That address also appears in local court records for a Gavin Long in two separate civil cases.
In a YouTube video posted on July 10, the host of “Convos with Cosmo” says he is in Dallas and had gone to the city to join protests there. The man says that African-Americans are oppressed and questions why white American revolutionaries are praised for fighting their oppressors but African ones are not. Later in the video, he suggests that only violence and financial pressure will cause change. “We know what it’s going to take. It’s only fighting back or money. That’s all they care about,” he said.