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       Three Police Officers Shot Dead in Southern US City of Baton Rouge

   by VOA News

   A former U.S. Marine has been identified as the gunman who shot and
   killed three police officers and wounded three others Sunday morning in
   the southern U.S. city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a city already on
   edge following the point -blank shooting earlier this month of a black
   man by the police.

   Military officials say Gavin Long of Kansas City, Missouri, on his 29th
   birthday, was the masked gunman who opened fire on the officers with an
   assault rifle. He served in the Marines from 2005 to 2010, earning the
   rank of sergeant. Long was deployed to Iraq from 2008 to 2009.

   One of the ramblings posted on his Twitter account on July 13 read:
   "At what point do you stand up so that your people don't become the
   Native Americans . . . EXTINCT?"

   His postings sometimes described violence as an answer to what he
   viewed as oppression of African Americans.

   ''

   Long's online identity was the name Cosmos.  His website
   ConvosWithCosmos.com features his blog and podcasts about nutrition,
   fitness and personal transformation, as well as information about his
   personal coaching fees and links to his "self-actualization" books sold
   on Amazon.

   He says on the site that he had a "spiritual revelation that resulted
   in him dropping out of college, selling his two cars, giving away all
   of his material possessions, packing two suitcases and journeying to
   Africa - his ancestral homeland."

   A tweet on his account Saturday, the day before he gunned down police
   in Baton Rouge read: "And just bc (because) you shed your physical body
   doesn't mean that you're dead."

   ''

   Long was killed in a shootout with police after killing two Baton Rouge
   police officers - Montrell Jackson and Matthew Gerald - and one officer
   of the East Baton Rouge sheriff's office - Brad Garafola.

   A fourth officer, a deputy sheriff, remains in critical condition after
   undergoing emergency surgery. Two other officers received hospital
   treatment for non-life threatening wounds.

   State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said an investigation is
   ongoing "with a lot of moving parts."

   Speaking alongside Edmonson, Governor John Bel Edwards sought to assure
   Baton Rouge residents still grappling with the July 5 police shooting
   of a black man that sparked widespread protests in cities across the
   country.  Long, Sunday's shooter, was black. One of the officers killed
   Sunday, Jackson, was black, the other two were white.

   ''

   A friend described Officer Jackson, who was 32, as a big "Teddy Bear"
   of a man.  Jackson was a 10-year veteran of the police force and was a
   new father.

   On his Facebook page three days after the police shooting that led to
   protests, Jackson said "In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of
   uniform some consider me a threat."

   Officer Gerald joined Baton Rouge's police force less than a year
   ago.   He was 41 and had been a Blackhawk helicopter crew chef in the
   Army.

   Officer Garafola, the father of four, was a 24-year veteran of the East
   Baton Rouge sheriff's office.  One of his neighbors said he was never
   seen without at least one of his four children, who range in age from 7
   to 21.

   ''

   Edwards did not address the earlier shooting death in his comments,
   instead focusing on Sunday's violence, which he called an "absolutely
   unspeakable, heinous attack."  He also said the probe has the full
   cooperation of federal authorities, including the Federal Bureau of
   Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
   Explosives.

   President Barack Obama, speaking on national television, condemned the
   killings, saying such attacks "are "happening far too often."  He
   called on Americans to "avoid divisive rhetoric" in the aftermath of
   the latest violence, which he earlier had described as "cowardly
   attacks on public servants, on the rule of law, and on civil society."

   Obama also noted that Sunday's shootings, and other recent deadly
   violence involving police in Dallas, Texas, Baton Rouge and in
   Minnesota, come ahead of both Republican and Democratic nominating
   conventions set to begin in the coming days. He said that convention
   rhetoric "tends to get hotter than usual," and he urged candidates and
   their supporters to avoid "careless accusations" that could further
   heighten tensions.

   Both Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald
   Trump issued brief statements, with Clinton saying "there is no
   justification for violence, hate [or] for attacks on men and women who
   put their lives on the line every day."

   ''

   Trump, writing on Twitter, extended condolences to police and their
   families, and placed blame for the attack on a lack of leadership. He
   did not elaborate, but wrote: "We demand law and order."

   Superintendent Edmonson said events began to unfold Sunday at 8:40 a.m.
   when an unidentified caller told police someone was carrying a rifle as
   he walked along a main roadway in the city.  Nearby, as police
   approached the suspect a short while later, gunfire erupted behind a
   storefront where authorities believe the officers and the gunman were
   shot.

   Baton Rouge was the scene of a fatal police shooting of a black man
   nearly two weeks ago.

   The shooting death of Alton Sterling was partially recorded on a cell
   phone and widely circulated on social media.

   Sterling's death triggered intense protests that stretched for days in
   Baton Rouge.  A day later, a Minnesota man was fatally shot during a
   traffic stop, and the following day five Dallas police officers were
   shot and killed by a heavily armed lone gunman.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/police-shot-in-baton-rouge/3422602.html