The shooter who gunned down and killed at least three Baton Rouge police officers has been identified as Gavin Long, The Associated Press reported.
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According to reports, the gunman, served in the US Marines for five years starting in August 2005 as a data network specialist, and attained the rank of sergeant.
While in the military, Long was awarded several medals, including one for good conduct, and received an honorable discharge.
Days before he was shot and killed, Montrell Jackson posted an emotional message on Facebook, about how hard it was to be a black police officer in Baton Rouge.
The Louisiana State Police says two “persons of interests” detained in connection with the deadly shooting of police officers in Baton Rouge have been released. Of the three who were injured, one was in critical condition and the two others suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement, “This is an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing”.
In some cases, two single-officer cars were being sent out to respond to every call, said police spokesman Tyler Gamble.
On July 8, the day after the Dallas police shootings in which a black gunman killed five police and wounded several others, Jackson wrote on Facebook that events had left him physically and emotionally exhausted.
Multiple reports have identified the shooter as Gavin Eugene Long of Kansas City.
In a series of YouTube online videos widely attributed to Long, the suspect spewed his peculiar, personal world outlook, attempted to share his views with other African-Americans and tried to give away three books he said he authored while living in Africa. The people who carried out this act, the individuals, they do not represent the people of Baton Rouge or the state of Louisiana or what’s best about our country.
Police reopened the Baton Rouge crime scene area to the public early Monday.
A motive for the shootings is not yet known.
Long, who’s from Kansas City, Missouri, turned 29 on Sunday, the same day he opened fire, killing three and wounding three other officers.
Mr Jackson, 32, was described by friends as a gentle giant and father to a four-month-old son.
President Barack Obama said the killings were attacks “on the rule of law and on civilised society, and they have to stop”.
Thousands of people have protested Sterling’s death and Baton Rouge police arrested more than 200 demonstrators. Beyond the Black Lives Matter movement, there remains palpable tension between communities of color and police.
It was not immediately clear whether there is a link between the Baton Rouge shootings and the recent unrest over police killings of black men in Baton Rouge and Minnesota.
“With him it was God, family and the police force”, Pitts said outside his mother’s house in Baton Rouge, where family was gathered Sunday.
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Garafola was a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office.
