Editor’s Note: The audio for this story will be added as soon as it is available.
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The officers in Baton Rouge were responding to a call of shots fired when they were attacked by at least one gunman, Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden said. It was the second time in 10 days that a heavily armed man set out to avenge the killing of young black men at the hands of police. Flowers and cards appeared in a makeshift memorial outside of the hospital where two other officers who were injured in the attack are being treated.
Gavin Eugene Long, whose last known address was in Kansas City, Missouri, carried out the attack Sunday on his 29th birthday.
Records released by the military show that Long served five years in the Marine Corps as a data network specialist, from August 2005 to August 2010. He was deployed to Iraq from 2008 to 2009. The shooter killed five officers before being killed with a robotic explosive device. Colonel Mike Edmonson is head of the Louisiana State Police.
Describing the shooting as “chilling in its sheer brutality”, Edmonson said “these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated”.
Mr Obama said he will use his remaining months as president to work to rebuild trust between police and the communities they serve. And nobody fears this more than law abiding African-Americans.
One post on Sunday to a Twitter account linked to Long read: “At what point do you stand up so that your people don’t become the Native Americans.EXTINCT?”.
Another message posted hours before the shootings read: “And just bc [because] you shed your physical body doesn’t mean that you’re dead”.
“I swear to God I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me.” he wrote. The suspect then noticed one of the injured officers was still moving so he fired at least two more shots at almost point blank range at the wounded officer to ensure he was killed. Police say he was seeking out law enforcement and ambushed them, wounding three other officers before he was killed in the latest in a string of violent incidents involving police.
One took advantage of the police presence keeping the peace at Dallas’ Black Lives Matter demonstration; the other was unconnected to any demonstration. Col. Robert Williams, Chief of the Maine State Police, said Monday that troopers are being more careful because they’re more anxious.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Cal Dabadie said: “I have no doubt he was headed to our headquarters, and he was going to take more lives”. “Now she claims to grieve with all law enforcement”.
In the wake of two attacks on police officers in as many weeks, leaving a total of eight officers dead, President Barack Obama penned an open letter to law enforcement, committing to support them and fight the notion of pervasive division in the country. “This city MUST and WILL get better … if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer I got you”.
Racial tensions were already high in Louisiana’s state capital after the July 5 death of Alton Sterling, a black man shot at point-blank range by white police.
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We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement.
