And they say he shot to kill.
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The former Marine who killed three Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police officers identified with a growing movement that originated among white supremacists and whose adherents believe they’re immune to most state and federal laws, including paying taxes and getting driver’s licenses. “There is no doubt whatsoever that these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated”.
Officers and deputies from the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office were involved in the Sunday morning shooting that took place less than 1 miles from police headquarters.
Dabadie said police have been questioned about militarized tactics, but said these killings show that “we are up against a force that is not playing by the rules”. Last week, I met with the families of the Dallas officers who were killed, and I called the families of those who were killed in the line of duty yesterday in Baton Rouge.
Carrying two rifles and a pistol, Long parked his vehicle near a beauty supply store mid-morning. Police have said Sterling, who as a convicted felon was barred from legally carrying a gun, was armed and an eyewitness said he had a gun in his pocket. Authorities believe the first 911 call came in, reporting a “dude with a rifle”, as he returned to his vehicle. One of the officers killed was Montrell Jackson, a black man who wrote on Facebook days before “I swear to God I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me”.
Hundreds of mourners held a candlelight vigil on Monday evening at a church in south Baton Rouge in memory of Gerald, a rookie on the police force who had served in both the U.S. Army and the Marines.
Those strategies include putting more officers on the streets and sending more backup to calls than previously.
Gerald was a Baton Rouge rookie police officer who had just begun his new career after stints in the military. A series of devastating words soon followed: “Shots fired, officer down”.
Huey Newton, a political activist and co-founder of the Black Panthers, Malcolm X and Long’s travels in Africa come in for mentions as Long advises his passenger to work in multiple trades to guarantee success, not to have children until he is financially stable and to only patronize black-owned businesses.
Seconds later, the killer spotted the wounded officer on the ground and executed him. Surveillance video captured the calculated attack and showed a scene that was “chilling in the sheer brutality”, he said.
“My deputy went down fighting”. He said he heard semi-automatic fire and perhaps a handgun.
To combat that view, the National Fraternal Order of Police on Monday posted the full text of an open letter Obama wrote to the nation’s law enforcement officers, thanking them for facing danger every day so that Americans remain safe.
Families in Baton Rouge are the latest to experience first-hand the aftermath of police killings of black men that have convulsed the nation in the past two years, following communities from NY and Baltimore to Ferguson, Missouri, where riots erupted after police fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014. Long stopped, turned and shot, wounding the officer before heading around back, jumping a wall and running past the convenience store and the vehicle wash. Long died in the ensuing gunfight with police.
Another deputy, Nicholas Tullier, remains in the hospital.
Garafola engaged the gunman amidst a hail of bullets, Gautreaux said. Tullier’s injuries were even worse. Duty said it’s not the distance of the shot that is impressive, but the ability to make that shot under such extreme pressure. Missouri – his hometown – and drove to Baton Rouge to carry out the attacks on his 29th birthday, authorities reportedly said.
“This guy was going to another location”.
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“He’s going to grow up without a father”, said Jackson’s sister-in-law, Lauren Rose said. Time and again, you make the split-second decisions that could mean life or death for you and many others in harm’s way.
