Multiple police officers were killed and wounded Sunday in a shooting near a gas station in Baton Rouge.
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Sherri Parent, 50, stood outside of the funeral home, a black ribbon threaded with blue pinned to her dress, watching as more and more people arrived.
A written tribute from the wife of Baton Rouge Police Officer Matthew Gerald was handed out Friday before his funeral, saying his memory “will continue to bridge the gap and foster peace in the country he lived, loved and…”
About 70 motorcyclists from the Louisiana Patriot Guard Riders showed up for Gerald.
“We were right in the middle of the firestorm”, he said.
Officer Gerald’s funeral will take place in Baton Rouge on Friday, July, 22 at Healing Place Church.
ISIS and other jihadi groups sought to exploit racial tensions after the Ferguson riots, with one Islamic State supporter claiming, “In Islam there is no racism, and we think black people will wake up and follow the example of Malcolm X and others who understood that this way is the only way to justice”.
Police officers from Texas were escorting the caskets from Edna, located about 90 miles southwest of Houston, to Baton Rouge.
Six officers were shot, and three of them fatally wounded.
Hundreds of mourners began gathering at the church where funeral services were about to begin for slain Baton Rouge Police Officer Matthew Gerald. Ganem said Gerald’s casket would reflect his military background, but he didn’t elaborate on the design during a quick telephone interview while he was driving. The shooting rattled a city already grappling with protests after the fatal police shooting on July 5 of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man confronted by officers while selling CDs outside a convenience store. Montrell Jackson’s body. Ganem said Montrell’s wife said she “thought of him as Superman”.
The man who made them says they are more than just boxes, they are specially made for officers Montrell Jackson, Brad Garafola and Matthe Gerald, who were killed by a gunman. Video footage set off angry protests in the city’s black community. The two officers, black and white, began riding together on July 1, days before Sterling’s death.
Before the Baton Rouge shootings, Long posted rambling Internet videos calling for violent action in response to what he considered oppression. He also peddled self-published books about empowerment and spiritual enlightenment.
Ganem reached out to the officers’ families in Baton Rouge, who saw the caskets for the first time Thursday.
Simmons was shot in the shoulder on Sunday, and underwent at least two surgeries before being release on Thursday.
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Deputy Nicholas Tullier, 41, is one of five officers who were transported to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital where he remains in critical condition.
