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Hundreds gather for vigil for 3 slain officers

Under state law, each child of a slain law enforcement officer also is eligible for a $25,000 award on top of each family’s $250,000 payment.

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Biden and Attorney General Loretta Lynch will speak at a vigil Thursday afternoon for the three law enforcement officers gunned down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by a man who intentionally targeted police.

It is the latest event created to ease tensions in the community, coming a day after the region’s Metropolitan Council blocked a proposal to require its police officers to live within Baton Rouge city limits, a measure sought by some black leaders. Days before he was shot to death, Jackson posted a message on Facebook about the difficulties of being both a black man and a police officer in the tumultuous aftermath of Sterling’s shooting.

But she said the gathering shows the community is united by “collective heartache” and a “common humanity”.

Several hundred people and dozens of law enforcement officers attended the vigil, where Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards will also speak.

Baton Rouge Police Officers Matthew Gerald, 41, and Montrell Jackson, 32, and East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Garafola, 45, are being honored Thursday in a community memorial service in Baton Rouge.

Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Tullier was critically wounded and remains in a hospital.

Biden has become a liaison between the White House and police as tensions between departments and minority communities have escalated in recent years.

“Please don’t let hate infect your heart”.

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Gerald was a former Marine and Army veteran who served three tours in Iraq before joining the police force nine months ago.

Anthony Moore