A gunman who attacked law enforcement officials Sunday killing three police officers and injuring three others in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, went on an online rant over the use of force against black people by white officers. Baton Rouge has been the scene of a number of demonstrations since the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, by police on 5 July.
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Police did not identify the suspect, but a USA government official told Reuters he was Gavin Long, of Kansas City, Missouri.
It was not immediately clear why the officers were shot.
A troubling picture emerged of the shooter, a former Marine whose Iraq tour lasted from June 2008 to January 2009.
Documents show that gunman Gavin Eugene Long sought to change his name previous year to Cosmo Setepenra. For the second time in two weeks, police officers who put their lives on the line for ours every day were doing their job when they were killed in a cowardly and reprehensible assault.
The three officers who were killed Sunday have been identified as Deputy Brad Garafola and police officers Montrell Jackson and Matthew Gerald.
The gunman also critically injured a deputy who is “fighting for his life”, said East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux. The other two officers were in stable condition.
“To me, this is not so much about gun control as it is about what’s in men’s hearts”, said Edmonson, who like some of his colleagues who spoke in the press conference, was clearly shaken.
The groups says it’s a sovereign Native American nation within the boundaries of the U.S.
Long was confirmed to be the lone gunman, who attacked the policemen at a gas station along a highway near the local police headquarters after they allegedly acted upon a 911 call, according to the local police. He had been carrying an AR-15-style, semi-automatic rifle, law enforcement sources told CNN.
“Attacks on police are an attack on all of us and the rule of law that makes society possible”, he emphasised.
Micah Johnson, the man behind the July 7 shooting in Dallas that killed five police officers, wounded nine and hurt two civilians, was also a black military veteran.
Then a black gunman opened fire during a protest against the police shootings in Dallas, killing five police officers. “Everyone right now focus on words and actions that can unite this country rather than divide it further”. “We don’t need inflammatory rhetoric”. ‘We don’t need careless accusations thrown around to score political points or to advance an agenda.
Obama, the first black United States president, has repeatedly called for racial unity. She also is pledging the full support of the Justice Department as the investigation unfolds.
Earlier Sunday, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump issued a statement in which he suggested that Obama’s leadership had contributed to the bloodshed. Later he gathered law enforcement professionals at the White House for talks on how to improve relations between officers and citizens. We demand law and order” and “We are TRYING to fight ISIS, and now our own people are killing our police.
According to the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, two police officers and one deputy were killed in the attack.
“There simply is no place for more violence, ” said Gov. John Bel Edwards. “Only we can prove that we have the grace and the character and the common humanity to end this kind of senseless violence, to reduce fear and mistrust in the American family, to set an example for our children”.
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“We do know, and do believe there are more than one suspect”. This is our house. A spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, said she had no information about that.
