Long, who was identified as the lone shooter, died in a shootout with police at the scene.
Advertisement
“There is no doubt whatsoever that these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated”, Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Mike Edmonson said of the Sunday incident at the news conference.
“We are determined to do everything that we can to bridge divides, to heal the rifts and to restore trust, but most of all, now is the time to ensure that every American, everyone, under the sheltering arm of our Constitution, feels respected, feels supported, feels safe, everyone – no matter the color of their skin, the color of their uniform, where they live, where they work, this is all our house, this is all our house and we have to protect it”. “But we believe he was targeting those officers”.
The single gunshot that killed Long, 29, was sacked by an officer from about a hundred yards away, police officials said on Monday as they deepened their investigation into the second racially charged armed assault on USA law enforcement this month.
Police told CNN that Sunday’s shootings did not appear to be race-related.
In the hours following the shooting, officials say there were reports of gunfire in several areas around the city, but so far those reports have all been unfounded.
The shooting comes in the wake of heightened tension between police and the community in Baton Rouge since the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling that has prompted days of protests along the same highway where the officers were shot. He rented a vehicle in Kansas City. He was dressed in black and wearing a mask when he opened fire on officers with an assault rifle.
Long had legally changed his name in May 2015 to Cosmo Ausar Setepenra, according to records in Jackson County, Missouri.
In an interview, Frederix Joe Washington, a senior member of the Washitaw Nation, denied that Long was associated with the group, Reuters reported.
“They scared, we scared, the whole city scared”, he said. It is also filled with posts targeting white people. Montrell Jackson and two other law enforcement officers were killed Sunday. Following the shooting, two “persons of interest” were detained for questioning in the nearby town of Addis. “In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat”, Mr Jackson wrote recently on Facebook.
“Please don’t let hate infect your heart”. I’m working in these streets so any protestors, officers, friends, family, or whoever, if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer.
Advertisement
But Long, who was black, said in a series of social media messages posted in recent days, some from Dallas, that he was fed up with the mistreatment of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement, and praised the attack on Dallas police.
