Gunman Kills Three Baton Rouge Police Officers

The week began on a violent note in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the city claimed the headlines for the second time in 10 days. Police say a man, dressed in all black, ambushed police, killing three officers and injuring three others. They have identified the suspect as Gavin Long who was shot and killed during a gun battle with police.

President Barack Obama called the police shootings “reprehensible and cowardly.” The President said, “We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement. Attacks on police are an attack on all of us and the rule of law that makes society possible.”

Authorities say Long was a former Marine from Kansas City, Missouri. Today was his 29th birthday. The attack started at 8:40 a.m. and within a matter of minutes the officers had been killed.

Emotions have been raw in Baton Rouge since two policemen shot and killed a black man earlier this month. 37 year-old Alton Sterling sold CDs in front of a convenience store until he and the officers had a confrontation on July 5th. A video of the shooting shows the officers subduing Sterling on the ground before firing several fatal gunshots.

A day later an officer in Minnesota shot and killed, Philando Castile, as he reached for his ID during a traffic stop. Castile’s girlfriend filmed the aftermath using Facebook Live. Protests erupted around the nation, and a man in Dallas shot and killed five police officers in an apparent retaliatory assault before he was killed by a robot-delivered bomb.

“We need to temper our words and open our hearts,” President Obama said from the White House today.

The investigation into Long’s journey from Missouri to Louisiana is underway and could take weeks.