The letter comes as Obama remains under intense criticism from some police officials and others who accuse him of fostering a climate that has led to the intentional killing of law enforcement officers.
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During the conference, officials noted that Long prepared for the shooting by traveling all the way from Kansas City, Missouri, where he rented a vehicle, then drove to Texas. He turned 29 on the day of the ambush and was killed in a gunbattle with police.
Law enforcement officials on Monday said they weren’t prepared to conclude that Long was driven by anger over the recent fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling or the protests that followed it, but they were looking hard at online posts that appeared to show Long expressing anger about racism and police brutality, and about the Sterling killing specifically. He called himself a “freedom strategist, mental game coach, nutritionist, author and spiritual advisor” who wrote books he described as lessons about nutrition, self-awareness and empowerment.
In a video posted July 10, Long, as Setepenra, said he was speaking from Dallas after another black man had killed five police officers there.
John Ham said the Kansas City office is coordinating the investigation with agents in Baton Rouge.
He says: “You’ve got to fight back”.
MacNab said the followers of Moorish sovereign groups don’t know that their groups have roots in the white supremacist movement.
“Ever since he was small, he wanted to be in something that would help people”. He would not say how many or give details and stressed that the interviews do not mean that those people were involved in the shooting. He urged anyone else with information about Long to come forward.
The day has been somber as people bring flowers as signs of respect for the officers killed and injured Sunday.
His Iraq tour lasted from June 2008 to January 2009.
While in the military, Long was awarded several medals, including one for good conduct, and received an honorable discharge. His occupational expertise was listed as “data network specialist”. Police officers are again grieving for their friends. “Because we are up against a force that is not playing by the rules”.
The shooting began at a gas station on Airline Highway. Customers bought coffee and breakfast sandwiches at a B-Quik convenience store.
He was also briefly enrolled at Clark Atlanta University during the 2012-13 academic year, the school said. He also said he was a member of the Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah, or the Washitaw Nation.
Nothing in that group’s ideology calls for violence, according to Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The radio exchanges were made public Sunday by the website Broadcastify.
Dabadie said the shooting was evidence of the need for a well-armed police force, even as United States law enforcement methods come under scrutiny. “He was not going to stop here”, Dabadie said pointing to a map laying out the scene of the carnage.
From his window, Joshua Godwin said he saw the suspect, who was dressed in black with a ski mask, combat boots and extra bullets. “I was in shock, and he was acting impulsively”.
Investigators are also still working to trace the guns Long had with him on Sunday as well as the path of a rented Chevy Malibu with Missouri plates recovered at the shooting scene. A third officer who had a graze wound to his neck was released from a hospital on Sunday. Nicholas Tullier remained fighting for his life in an intensive care unit.
The former Marine who killed three Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police officers identified with a growing movement that originated among white supremacists and whose adherents believe they’re immune to most state and federal laws, including paying taxes and getting driver’s licenses.
East Baton Rouge Deputy Sheriff Brad Garafola left behind a wife and four children.
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All three of the slain officers lived in Denham Springs, a racially mixed city outside Louisiana’s capital. The killing was captured on cellphone video. Jackson was black, as was the gunman.
