Three officers killed as Baton Rouge simmers
BATON ROUGE, LA. • Three Baton Rouge police officers investigating a report of a man with an assault rifle were killed Sunday, less than two weeks after a black man was fatally shot by police here in a confrontation that sparked nightly protests that reverberated across the U.S.
Three other officers were wounded, one critically. Police said the gunman was killed at the scene. Although he was believed to be the only person who fired at officers, authorities said they were unsure whether he had some kind of help.
“We are not ready to say he acted alone,” Major Doug Cain said.
Two “persons of interests” were detained in the nearby town of Addis.
A witness described the gunman as wearing all black and carrying extra clips of ammunition. He was identified as Gavin Long of Kansas City, said East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden.
The 29-year-old black man served in the marines from 2005 to 2010, reaching the rank of sergeant. He deployed to Iraq from June 2008 to January 2009, according to military records.
Long was awarded several medals, including one for good conduct, and received an honourable discharge. His occupational expertise was listed as “data network specialist.”
The University of Alabama issued a statement saying Long attended classes for one semester in spring of 2012. A school spokesman said university police had no interactions with him.
One of the officers killed was Montrell Jackson, who posted an emotional Facebook message 10 days ago saying he was “physically and emotionally” tired, while expressing how difficult it was to be both a police officer and a black man.
The message was posted July 8, just three days after Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police.
Matthew Gerald, 41, of the Baton Rouge Police Department, and Brad Garafola, 45, with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, were also killed.
The violence Sunday took place just before 9 a.m., about one kilometre from police headquarters.
It was the fourth highprofile deadly encounter in the United States involving police over the past two weeks. The violence has left 12 people dead, including eight police officers.
U.S. President Barack Obama said the slayings were attacks “on the rule of law and on civilized society, and they have to stop.” He said there was no justification for violence against law enforcement and that the attacks were the work of cowards who speak for no one.
Obama urged Americans to tamp down inflammatory words and actions as a violent summer collides with the nation’s heated presidential campaign.
“Everyone right now focus on words and actions that can unite this country rather than divide it further,” Obama said.
The exact circumstances of the attack were unclear, and authorities did not discuss the gunman’s motive or any relationship to the wider police conflicts.
The attack took place near a gas station on Airline Highway. The slain shooter’s body was next door, outside a fitness centre. Police said they were using a specialized robot to check for explosives near the body.
“There simply is no place for more violence,” said Gov. John Bel Edwards, who went to the hospital where officers were taken after they were shot.
“That doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t further the conversation. It doesn’t address any injustice perceived or real. It is just an injustice in and of itself.”
A witness said he saw a masked man in black shorts and shirt running from the scene where the three officers were killed.
Brady Vancel said the man looked like a pedestrian running with a rifle in his hand, rather than someone trained to move with a rifle.
Vancel said he had gone to work on a flooring job near the gas station when he heard semi-automatic gunfire and perhaps a handgun.
On Sunday afternoon, more than a dozen police cars were massed near a commercial area of car dealerships and chain restaurants on the highway. Police armed with long guns stopped at least two vehicles driving away from the scene.
That area was about a half-kilometre from a gas station where almost nightly protests had been taking place.
Of the three officers who survived, one was in critical condition.
Each of the six officers was married and had a family, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said.
Police-community relations in Baton Rouge have been tense since the death of 37-year-old Sterling, a black man killed by white officers July 5 after a scuffle at a convenience store. The killing was captured on cellphone video.
It was followed a day later by the shooting death of another black man in Minnesota, whose girlfriend livestreamed the aftermath of his death on Facebook. The next day, a black gunman in Dallas opened fire on police at a protest about the police shootings, killing five officers and heightening tensions even further.
Sterling’s nephew condemned the killing of the three officers. Terrance Carter said Sunday the family just wants peace.
“My uncle wouldn’t want this,” Carter said. “He wasn’t this type of man.”
On Sunday in Milwaukee, a domestic violence suspect opened fire on a police officer who was sitting in his squad car, seriously wounding him before fleeing and apparently killing himself shortly afterward, authorities said.
The suspect, a 20-year-old man from the suburb of West Allis, Wis., had two felonies on his arrest record, police said.
The 31-year-old officer was taken to a hospital with serious wounds that weren’t considered life-threatening, he said.