Baton Rouge police shooting: What we know
Three officers are dead and three others are wounded after a shooting in Baton Rouge. Police-community relations in the city have been tense since the killing earlier this month of 37-year-old Alton Sterling, a black man shot by white officers after a scuffle at a convenience store. The killing was captured on cellphone video.
Here is what we know so far:
The shooting
It happened early Sunday morning, just before 9 a.m., less than 1 mile from police headquarters. The attack began at a gas station on Airline Highway. Police observed a man dressed in all black holding an assault rifle at 8:40 a.m., according to authorities. Shooting began at 8:42 a.m., leaving three officers dead and three other officers injured. By the time emergency medical services arrived at 8:48 a.m., authorities had engaged and killed the suspect.
As of Sunday evening, it remained unclear whether police were explicitly targeted in an ambush. Residents in the neighborhood where the shootings unfolded expressed bewilderment and shock.
The victims
Three police officers were fatally shot and three others were wounded. A Louisiana state representative identified one of the three officers killed as Montrell Jackson. He had a 4-month-old child. The other slain officers include a 45-year-old East Baton Rouge sheriff's deputy and a 41-year-old Baton Rouge city officer, according to authorities.
Injured officers included a 41-year-old sheriff's deputy reportedly in critical condition. A 51-year-old deputy and a 41-year-old Baton Rouge police officer received care for non-life-threatening injuries.
Slain Baton Rouge officer had posted emotional Facebook message about being a black cop
The gunman
The dead suspect was identified as Gavin Long, who turned 29 on Sunday, according to multiple media organizations. He was killed at the scene, police said. Long lived in Kansas City, Missouri. He served with the Marines from 2005 to 2010, and he was deployed to Iraq in 2008.
Police used a specialized robot was used to check for explosives near the body.
During a Sunday afternoon press conference, the Louisiana State Police stressed there was not an active shooter situation in Baton Rouge. Police said Long is thought to have been the only gunman.
Obama condemns attack
President Obama said the fatal shootings of three Louisiana police were "the work of cowards who speak for no one," telling reporters late Sunday afternoon, "Nothing justifies violence against law enforcement.”
Timeline of the Baton Rouge shooting
Black Lives Matter leader calls for peace
Over the weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Baton Rouge to condemn Sterling’s death, including hundreds of demonstrators who congregated outside the police station. Authorities arrested about 200 people over the three-day weekend. DeRay Mckesson, a prominent voice for the Black Lives Matter movement, called for an end to violence Sunday afternoon. “The movement began as a call to end violence. That call remains," Mckesson told the New York Times. "My prayers are with the victims of all violence." Mckesson was arrested last weekend while protesting Sterling's death in Baton Rouge. He was released last Sunday.
This isn't the first plot targeting Baton Rouge police
Baton Rouge Police arrested a 12-year-old boy last week who they say was the fourth suspect in a plot to kill police. Police also arrested three suspects almost a week earlier.
Boy, age 12, arrested in alleged plot to shoot police
Escalating tensions between the black community and police
A recent poll found the majority of Americans believe racial discrimination is a problem. Sterling's shooting in Louisiana was followed a day later by the shooting death of another black man in Minnesota, whose girlfriend livestreamed the aftermath of his death on Facebook. Later that week, a black gunman in Dallas opened fire on police at a protest about the police shootings, killing five officers and heightening tensions even further.
Contributing: The Associated Press