The officers lived in the area of Denham Springs, a quiet bedroom community across the Amite River from Baton Rouge, which has been in turmoil for two weeks.
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Officials say Long deliberately sought out officers.
“Knowing these guys were out there to protect and serve, I want to do my part”, said Trey Ganem, a Texas-based maker of custom caskets who designed and donated the burial boxes for the services. Garafola was a 24-year veteran of the sheriff’s office. Sgt. C. Bryan Taylor, president of the Baton Rouge Police Department union, wrote in a text message to The Advocate that he was “not interested in EXCUSES!”
On Tuesday, an officer with the Kansas City, Kansas, police department died after he was shot in his vehicle as he was approaching people matching the description of suspects in an earlier shooting.
Obama wrote the letter as he 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.
Long never talked to him about anger toward the police or the way they treated blacks, said Woodley, who added he never saw his stepson with a weapon.
America is hurting, and the only way we can stop the grief and the pain is by coming together, just as the families of Montrell Jackson and Alton Sterling showed us.
Visitation is set Thursday evening for city police department officer Matthew Gerald, 41, the Army and Marine veteran who had graduated from the police academy earlier this year. He was discharged at the rank of sergeant from the corp in 2010, after he serving in Iraq. Jackson leaves behind a wife and a four-month old son. His casket will have a Superman shield, he said. Multiple police officers were killed an.
Sunday’s ambush of police by Long, a 29-year-old black man, came almost two weeks after a police officer shot and killed Alton Sterling, a black Baton Rouge resident, outside a convenience store in the city on July 5.
The tributes, outrage and protests only intensified when Philando Castille was killed by police days later in Minnesota. The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the incident.
Faith and community leaders, black and white, also gathered at a Baton Rouge church Tuesday to discuss ways to improve police relations with black residents.
Jackson posted on Facebook that he was physically and emotionally exhausted. “In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me at threat”.
Long was armed with two rifles and a pistol and wearing a ski mask when he ambushed the officers near a gas station and convenience store.
Michelle Rogers, 56, said Sunday the pastor at her church had led prayers Sunday for Sterling’s family and police officers, asking members of the congregation to stand up if they knew an officer.
“He was a gentle giant”, he said. The rifleman took out gunman Gavin Long while more than 100 yards away without a clear line of sight, Dabadie told CNN. He also peddled self-published books about empowerment and spiritual enlightenment.
Gautreaux, the East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff, said he was convinced that if the Baton Rouge SWAT team had not arrived when it did, two additional deputies who were wounded would be dead and the gunman would have escaped to attack more officers.
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There, sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Tullier, 41, had returned to his police auto after getting the license plate from Long’s rental vehicle.
