The officers Long killed were Officer Montrell Jackson of the Baton Rouge Police Department; Officer Matthew Gerald, also with Baton Rouge Police; and Deputy Brad Garafola with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Department.
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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) The last of the three Louisiana law enforcement officers killed in an ambush near a busy highway in Baton Rouge is being buried Monday.
Corporal Ivory Taylor Jr., along with other members of Jackson’s police squad, addressed mourners gathered at Living Faith Christian Center: “We’re not here to mourn the death of Montrell, we’re here to celebrate his life”, he said.
Jackson wrote those words days before he was shot to death, in a Facebook post that described the difficulties of being both a black man and a police officer. Jackson’s funeral is on Monday.
“There’s no doubt that Montrell was a peacemaker”, Edwards said.
I swear to God I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me.
His flag-draped black casket, striped with a police officers blue, bore the Superman logo, a nod to his wifes calling Jackson her Superman.. A Superman “S” was emblazoned on a collage of photographs displayed above Jackson’s coffin.
Jackson was called a true hero a loving husband and father, so proud of his new baby just four months old.
“You and Mason were his everything”, Jackson’s friend, Gelrod Armstrong, told his widow. “You were his superwoman, and Mason was his super baby”. As he spoke during the funeral of the second of his fallen officers, Dabadie addressed Jackson directly, saying, Baton Rouge will “not let evil, hate and division win. In a situation like that, you’ve got to have sympathy”, Kelley said.
But, he said, “We are going to do better”. But in one striking photo, Jackson could be clearly seen standing behind a line of sheriff’s deputies dressed in riot gear during the Sterling protests.
He said the effort was to show families that their loved one was just as important to us as to them.. “He was a valuable member of the BRPD, but above all he was a cherished part of this community”.
“He had grit and determination…”
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In partnership with WRKF in Baton Rouge and WWNO in New Orleans, KERA in Dallas/Fort Worth will produce “12 Days in July: Our Shared Tragedy”, an hourlong call-in special, at 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 26. “There was still a promise of things to come”, Dabadie said. “He was an officer of the law who served with dignity and distinction [and] his end of watch came too soon”, he continued. “But your legacy will live on in all of us”.
