Page 3 - ATODAY
P. 3
U.S. NEWS A3
Monday 18 July 2016
At Press Time:
3 Baton Rouge officers killed in shooting; suspect deadÂ
MIKE KUNZELMAN says shots are still being
Associated Press fired.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) The recording lasts about
— Three Baton Rouge law 17 minutes and includes
enforcement officers inves- urgent calls for an armored
tigating a report of a man personnel carrier called a
with an assault rifle were BearCat.
killed Sunday, less than two A law enforcement official
weeks after a black man familiar with the investiga-
was fatally shot by police tion said the shooter was
here in a confrontation identified as Gavin Long
that sparked nightly pro- but had no details. The of-
tests that reverberated na- ficial spoke on condition of
tionwide. anonymity because the of-
Three other officers were ficial was not authorized to
wounded, one critically. discuss an ongoing investi-
Police said the suspect gation.
was killed at the scene. In Kansas City, police con-
The dead gunman was be- verged on a house that
lieved to be the only per- was listed for a Gavin Long.
son who fired at officers, Some officers had weap-
but authorities were un- ons drawn from behind
sure whether he had some trees. Others took cover
kind of help, a state police behind cars.q
spokesman said.
“We are not ready to say Police guard the emergency
he acted alone,†Major room entrance of Our Lady
Doug Cain said. Two “per- of the Lake Medical Center,
sons of interests†were de- where wounded officers were
tained in the nearby town brought, in Baton Rouge, La.,
of Addis. Sunday, July 17, 2016. Mul-
The shooting — which took tiple law enforcement officers
place just before 9 a.m., were killed and wounded
less than a mile from po- Sunday morning in a shooting
lice headquarters — came near a gas station in Baton
amid escalating tensions Rouge, less than two weeks
across the country be- after a black man was shot
tween the black commu- and killed by police here,
nity and police. The races sparking nightly protests
of the suspect and the offi- across the city.
cers were not immediately
known. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
It was the fourth high-pro-
file deadly encounter in shooters were on the loose.
the United States involv- They did not discuss the
ing police over the past gunman’s motive or any
two weeks. The violence relationship to the wider
has left 12 people dead, police conflicts.
including eight police of- The shooting began at a
ficers, and sparked a na- gas station on Airline High-
tional debate over race way. According to radio
and policing. traffic, Baton Rouge po-
President Barack Obama lice answered a report of
urged Americans to tamp a man with an assault rifle
down inflammatory words and were met by gunfire.
and actions. For several long minutes,
“We as a nation have to be they did not know where it
loud and clear that noth- was coming from.
ing justifies attacks on law The radio exchanges were
enforcement,†Obama made public Sunday by
said in remarks from the the website Broadcastify.
White House. “Every one Nearly 2½ minutes after the
right now focus on words first report of an officer get-
and actions that can unite ting shot, an officer on the
this country rather than di- scene is heard saying po-
vide it further.†lice do not know the shoot-
Authorities initially believed er’s location.
that other assailants might Almost six minutes pass
be at large, but hours later after the first shots are re-
said that no other active ported before police say
they have determined the
shooter’s location. About
30 seconds later, someone
