From left to right: Montrell L. Jackson, Brad Garafola, Matthew Gerald.
Brilio.net/en - To say that tensions have been high in Baton Rouge, and the United States as a whole, would be an understatement. Protesters have taken to streets and highways from coast to coast, and for the most part theyve been relatively peaceful. (Read also: This Black Lives Matter photo is going viral) But for the three officers tragically murder on July 17th, the protests didnt end peacefully.
Gavin Long, a former US Marine and Kansas native, went on a shooting rampage on his 29th birthday in the Louisiana city, murdering the officers and wounded another three. The lone gunman acted less than two weeks after Alton Sterling was shot dead by police in Baton Rouge, sparking nationwide protests.
The attack took place near a convenience store favored by officers because it was near police headquarters. It is still uncertain whether the policemen were lured to the scene after reports of a man carrying a gun on Airline Highway. Over the course of four minutes in the early morning, shots rang out.On the police dispatch radio, a voice could be heard shouting: Shots fired! Officer down! Shots fired. Officer down! Got a city officer down.
The scene of the shooting was a favored spot of local police officers.Courtesy ofedition.cnn.com
"There is no doubt whatsoever that these officers were targeted and assassinated," said Col. Michael D. Edmonson, superintendent of Louisiana State Police of the gunman.
In a tragic twist of events, one of the murdered policemen had written a statement on Facebook about the tensions between police and protesters. Officer Montrell Jackson wrote about the difficulty of his position, saying I swear to God I love this city, but I wonder if this city loves me. The ten-year veteran of the force was known as a gentle giant by his friends and family.
In his post, published just three days before he was killed, he wrote about the paradoxes and difficulties of his job: In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat.
vianytimes.com
Long, who is also black, served in the Marines from 2005 to 2010 and reached the rank of sergeant. He was deployed to Iraq for seven months from June 2008. He was awarded several medals in the military, including one for good conduct.
Long was killed at the scene by an expert takedown team and was in a position to take many more lives. "That shot our SWAT team made was a helluva shot," Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. said.
Unsurprisingly, the attack ihas been roundly condemned. US President Barack Obama said We dont need inflammatory rhetoric. Someone once wrote: a bullet need happen only once, but for peace to work we have to be reminded of its existence again and again and again.
The attacks in Baton Rouge come only days after the fatal shootings by another former Marine in Dallas. Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, killed five officers before he was killed by a remote-detonated robot bomb.
An American flag at half mast in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Courtesy ofnytimes.com
(brl/red)
