CRIME 3 Officers Dead, 3 Injured In Baton Rouge Shooting

One witness says men were shooting at each other in a parking lot and “it turned into a gun battle” when police showed up.

 

Three Baton Rouge, Louisiana, officers were killed and another three were injured Sunday while responding to a shooting in the city, less than two weeks after a local man was shot to death by police in a case that drew national attention.

East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, speaking at an afternoon press conference, said a gunman responsible for the killings was fatally shot by responding officers within minutes of the first 911 calls just before 9 a.m.

CBS News identified the shooter as Gavin Eugene Long of Kansas City, Missouri, and noted that he appeared to have carried out the shooting on his 29th birthday.

State Police Col. Mike Edmonson announced that there is no longer “an active shooter scenario.”

“We do believe the person that shot and killed our officers, that he is the person who was shot and killed at the scene,” he said.

Two of the dead were identified as Baton Rouge police officers, and one is an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputy. Another sheriff’s deputy, 41, is said to be in critical condition. Two other officers suffered wounds that were not life-threatening.  

“To me, this is not so much about gun control as it is about what’s in men’s hearts, and until we come together as a nation, as a people, to heal as a people, if we don’t do that and this madness continues, we will surely perish as a people,” Gautreaux said.

“Each one of these individuals, married,” he said. “Each one of these individuals have family.”

WAFB identified BRPD Officers Montrell Jackson, 32, and Matthew Gerald, 41, as two of the slain officers. The station says the little boy seen in photos with Jackson is his son. 

 Officers with East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office search the area near Old Hammond Highway in Baton Rouge.

Authorities earlier reported that they were searching for two suspects wanted for the attacks. They declined to take questions at the press conference but asked the public to stay away from the area.

A police spokesman, speaking to The Associated Press, has since said that two “persons of interest” have been detained near Baton Rouge.

Multiple outlets previously reported that the Addis Police Department, about 10 miles away, had detained two men in possible connection to the shootings. The men were reportedly seen entering a Walmart store dressed entirely in black, WAFB reported. When they exited, they were wearing a change of clothes. A request for comment from Addis Police was not immediately returned.

In a press conference Sunday afternoon, President Barack Obama urged unity among racial and political groups in light of the recent police shootings.

“Five days ago I traveled to Dallas for a memorial service of the officers that were slain there,” he said. “I said that that killer would not be the last person who tries to make us turn on each other, nor will today’s killer. It remains up to us to make sure that they fail. That decision is all of ours. The decision to make sure our best selves are reflected across America, not our worst.”

Earlier Sunday, Obama offered his full support to local, state and federal agencies in a statement, while calling the attacks “the work of cowards who speak for no one.”

Just before 9 a.m., a call came in to police about a man walking around with an assault weapon, The Advocate reported.

Witness Brady Vancel told WAFB that he saw two people shooting at each other before authorities even arrived.

“There was multiple gunshots going back and forth and back and forth before any police ever showed up. This was not a come-at-police situation,” Vancel said. “They weren’t targeting police at first, I don’t assume so, because these were men out here shooting at each other in an empty parking lot until the police showed and then it turned into a gun battle, I’m guessing to try to get themselves free or get out of the situation.”

Hours after the bloodshed, the scene remained cordoned off from the public, with officers turning away reporters. 

Attempts to reach police for comment were not immediately successful.

The shooting took place about 5 miles from where Alton Sterling was shot to death by local police on July 5.

His death sparked protests and nationwide outrage after video showed Sterling, who was black, being overtaken by two officers before shots were fired. Cell phone video also emerged appearing to show Sterling was not holding a gun at the time he was shot.  

Sunday’s shooting follows police deaths in Dallas less than two weeks ago. Lone gunman Micah Xavier Johnson, a 25-year-old Army veteran, shot and killed five police officers and injured seven others as a Black Lives Matter protest was winding down. He had no association with the group.

The Dallas shooting claimed the lives of officers Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Michael Smith and Lorne Ahrens.

After officers tried negotiating with Johnson for several hours, they exchanged gunfire and ultimately killed him by detonating an explosive strapped to a robot bomb-detector.

Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown tweeted his condolences Sunday.