Three police officers are dead and and three others injured after a shooting Sunday morning in the Old Hammond area of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The incident started at 8:45 a.m. when officers responded to a 911 call reporting that someone was walking around with a gun. The gunman identified as 29-year-old Gavin Eugene Long of Kansas City, Missouri, shot six law enforcement officers, killing two police officersĀ and one sheriff’s deputy. Three other officers were injured, one of them critically.
According to the authorities, Long who was listed as a Deanās List student at the University of Alabama in 2012, was part of a group of males all affiliated with the fringe right wing militia group ‘Sovereign Citizens Movement’,Ā who had moved into the area a few hours
Officer Montrell Jackson. One of the officers killed by Gavin Long
The shooting of police in Baton Rouge today comes four days after Cameron Sterling, the 15-year-old son of Alton Sterling, a black man who was killed by police on July 5, told Baton Rouge residents to “protest in peace,” and 10 days after Micah Xavier Johnson, a sniper, killed five police officers and wounded seven others, at a protest in Dallas.
One suspect is also dead,Ā while the authorities hunt for two others believed to be at large.Ā The situation is described as ongoing, and one suspect is “down,” police said. According to Baton Rouge Police Sgt. Don Coppola, the authorities believe the “scene is contained.”
The Louisiana State Police Department is leading the shooting investigation, assisted by dozens of federal agents, including ATF agents.
Officer Matthew Gerald seen her with his wife and two children, was killed by Gavin Long, July 17
Baton Rouge police block Airline Highway after police officers were were called out and shot on Sunday morning
Cop with assault rifle on guard on Airport Highway as cops stop and search motorists after suspect shot and killed 3 policemen
The FBI released a statement saying that “the FBI New Orleans Division has personnel on scene in Baton Rouge to assist our law enforcement colleagues. At this time, our focus is to help identify and bring to justice those who are responsible for this heinous act.”
Public response to the latest killing of law enforcement officers has been universal condemnation. Louisiana Governor, Jon Bel Edwards in a statement released on social media that multiple people may have been possibly involved in either the planning or execution of the attack.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement on the shootings saying that they are “in contact with the FBI, Baton Rouge law enforcement, and our fusion center partners there, and the Secretary has directed that the full weight of the Department’s resources be made available.”
“This is an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing,” the governor said. “Rest assured, every resource available to the state of Louisiana will be used to ensure the perpetrators are brought swiftly to justice.”
President Obama condemned the shooting, saying there is no justification for attacks on law enforcement and linking the shooting to the killing in Dallas 10 days ago of five police officers.
“For the second time in two weeks, police officers who put their lives on the line for ours every day were doing their job when they were killed in a cowardly and reprehensible assault,” he said. “These are attacks on public servants, on the rule of law, and on civilized society, and they have to stop.”The shooting of police less than two weeks after Alton Sterling died in a police shooting in Baton Rouge that was captured on videotape and sparked protests around the country. Four days ago, Cameron Sterling, the 15-year-old son of Alton, called on the city’s residents to “protest in peace.”
The killing of the Baton Rouge officers also comes just 10 days after Micah Xavier Johnson, a sniper, fired upon a group of police officers at a protest in Dallas, killing five and wounding seven.
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