Three police officers were killed and three more injured when they were shot on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday. East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office said the suspect was killed.
READ MORE: Baton Rouge shooting: 3 police dead & 3 injured, shooter dead
19 July 2016
In response to Sunday's attack, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has released a series of measures that officers should take to protect themselves against potential copycat killers. Although no threats have been made against the LAPD, Beck announced on Monday that the measures would stay in place indefinitely.
Some of his proposed changes include increasing the number of helicopter patrols to provide ground officers with more information. In addition, the entire Metropolitan Division has been pulled from crime suppression details, in order to provide more support to officers responding to calls. Lastly, 911 calls will be vetted more thoroughly to reduce the risk of an ambush.
“Watch your back,” Beck said. “Watch each other.”
President Barack Obama has spoken to the families of the three law enforcement officers who were killed. In addition, the president has ordered that all federal buildings lower their flags to half-staff in honor of the deceased officers.
18 July 2016
“He was in shape, clearly he was in shape” Col. Michael Edmonson, Superintendent of Louisiana state police said about the shooter. "He was concentrated and articulate in all manners of engagement."
Edmonson said that they haven’t ruled out that it’s in retaliation to the killing of Alton Sterling two weeks ago in the same city, but haven’t seen link either.
East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux gave a brief on the state of the wounded policemen.
Sgt. Bruce Simmons "gets 2nd surgery tonight, titanium rod in arm, serious condition."
Nicholas Tullier, 41, was shot in the head and stomach. He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit. “He’s in very, very critical condition,” Dabadie said. “He’s not in good shape at all.”
An unidentified 41 year old officer was also shot, but only sustained non-life threatening injuries.
"No doubt in my mind that shooter, if he'd continued in direction if city swat hadn’t arrived, he would have made sure that injured cops were killed, gotten in car and gone elsewhere to continue shooting people," Gautreaux said.
"We've been asked for the past three or four weeks about the militarized tactics and militarized law enforcement. This is why we're doing this because we’re against a force that doesn’t play by the rules. They haven't played by the rules. They didn't play by the rules in Dallas and they didn't play by the rules here. This is why - we don't ever want to use it. But we have to have the ability to use it if we need it here... Our militarized tactics, as they’re being called, saved lives here,” Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie, Jr. said.
“Our hearts are broken but our spirit remains intact," Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said.
He added that the officers were intentionally targeted, we are confident the shooter was the only one involved in the attack.
"We believe the suspect was in our community for a few days," he said.
Police are looking into the motives and they are calling on everyone with some information about the suspect.
A Facebook post by Montrell Jackson, one of the slain police officers, went viral due to him relating the country's current tensions between law enforcement and minorities to his own experiences.
"These are trying times. Please don't let hate infect your heart. This city MUST and WILL get better," the 32-year-old officer wrote in a July 8 Facebook post.
Jackson, who is black, personally offered to do what he could to help heal the country's wounds: "I'm working in these streets so any protesters, officers, friends, family or whoever, if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer. I got you."
Gavin Long, who was killed in a shootout with police, was a former Marine from Kansas City, Missouri.
Police sources told Fox News that he may have spent days staking out the gas station where the attack that resulted in the deaths of three officers occurred. He was in Baton Rouge for six days and knew that cops often frequented the gas station and car wash where the shooting took place.
Suspected shooter Gavin Eugene Long, 29, went by the name Cosmo Setepenra online. More than a week before the Sunday killing of the three officers, he posted a YouTube video where spoke about fighting back against perceived oppression by white people.
"Zero has been successful over simply protesting. It has never worked and it never will," Long said. "You've gotta fight back, that's the only way a bully knows to quit, he doesn't understand words."
Louisiana State Police said the gunman in the Baton Rouge shooting ambushed officers and was "certainly seeking out police," AP reported.
The third slain police officer has been identified as sheriff’s deputy Brad Garafola, 45, a spokesman for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. According to Garafola’s wife Tonja, he was supposed to go on vacation on Monday. The veteran officer, who had served in law enforcement for 24 years, left four children behind.
“He was a great guy. Not just a great law enforcement, he was a great husband and a great father. He didn’t deserve this. He always helped everybody,” Tonja Garafola said.
The killed gunman in the Baton Rouge shooting was identified as Gavin Eugene Long, a former marine and allegedly a former Nation of Islam member. He reportedly carried out the attack on his 29th birthday.
The suspect is said to have been a black male from Kansas City, Missouri. On the day of the attack he reportedly turned 29, CBS News reported.
Long allegedly left the Marines in 2010 with a rank of a sergeant E-5, after an honorable discharge.
17 July 2016
The man suspected of fatally shooting three police officers in Baton Rouge had attended the University of Alabama for a semester in 2012, according to WBRC.
In a statement, the university said: "Gavin Eugene Long was a student at The University of Alabama for one semester in the Spring semester of 2012. He made the Dean’s list that semester. UAPD did not have any interaction with him while he was a student at The University of Alabama."
Another police officer was identified as Matthew Gerald, 41, from Denham Springs.
The attack was a lone-wolf incident, Colonel Mike Edmondson, the Superintendent of the Louisiana State Police said at the press conference following the incident, according to Reuters. The active shooter situation declared in Baton Rouge on Sunday has come to an end, the gunman is dead, he added.
"We do not have an active shooter scenario in Baton Rouge," Edmonson said.
One of the Baton Rouge Police Department officers killed in the shooting has been identified as Montrell Jackson.
Barack Obama addressed the nation and said the “motive” needed to be established.
“We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement,” he said, adding that attacks against police officers are “attacks against all of us and the rule of law that makes society possible.”
Multiple news outlets have identified the gunman as Gavin Long from Kansas City, Missouri, though the update has not yet been independently verified.
Obama called Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and the mayor of Baton Rouge, Kip Holden for an update on the situation, a White House official said.
“The president pledged any support from the federal government that is needed by local authorities. He also offered his condolences on behalf of the country to the families of the officers who were killed,” the official added.
President Obama will make a statement on Baton Rouge at 4.30p.m. EDT.
Governor John Bel Edwards has met officers who took part in the operation and their families, Communication Director for the Louisiana government Richard Carbo told AP.
President Obama strongly condemned the Baton Rouge shooting, saying in a statement that "attacks on public servants, on the rule of law, and on civilized society" have to stop.
"We may not yet know the motives for this attack, but I want to be clear: there is no justification for violence against law enforcement," he continued.
The FBI is reportedly questioning two men who were detained earlier in Addis, according to local media, but it remains unclear if they are connected to the shooting.
The FBI has “personnel on scene in Baton Rouge to assist our law enforcement colleagues,” local media report.
“At this time, our focus is to help identify and bring to justice those who are responsible for this heinous act,” the FBI is quoted by WAFB.
A police statement reportedly said authorities do not think the officer shootings are “race related,” according to CNN.
As the search continues for up to two gunmen involved in the fatal shooting, locals are warned to be vigilant and to immediately report any "suspicious persons."
Local media are warning of heavy rain and winds as a storm strikes Baton Rouge.
Mayor of Dallas Mike Rawlings described the events in Baton Rouge as "deeply disturbing" in a Facebook post calling for an end to violence against police officers.
Local media have reported that huge storms are due to hit Airline in Baton Rouge.
WAFB said darkening skies and lightning have already hit the area and the severe weather could have an impact on the police operation.
Details of the injured police officers have emerged. One is in “critical” condition while another is in a “fair” condition. The wellbeing of the third officer has not yet been specified, Reuters reports.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has posted a comment on Facebook, blaming the “leadership in our country” for the attack.
According to reports, two hospitals in Baton Rouge are on lockdown with police guards.
One man has been detained by Baton Rouge police at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. No further information is available.
President Barack Obama has been briefed on the ongoing events in Baton Rouge, local media reports.
Two of the officers killed were from the Baton Rouge police, and a third was an East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s deputy, Baton Rouge Chief Administrative Officer William Daniel said, as cited by The Advocate.
The scene is still being treated as “active” by law enforcement, with police searching for up to two suspects.
Police said the suspects still at large could be dressed all in black and also be wearing masks, with an eyewitness reporting that they “looked like ninjas,” CNN reports.
Baton Rouge police spokesman, L’Jean McKneely, confirmed during a press conference that “multiple officers were shot; we do have some that were killed. That’s what I know for sure right now.”
He also added that a suspect had been killed and police were securing the area with a bomb-defusing robot to ensure there were no explosives on the deceased attacker, according to CBS Local.