Police officers shot in Baton Rouge
Listen to this articleBaton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden has told the media that three police officers were shot and killed and at least four other injured by at least one gunman.
Reports are that one gunman has been shot and killed, but it is still an “active working scene,” according to the mayor.
Police were responding to reports of a suspicious man walking with a gun and when they arrived the man opened fire on them.
The victims were from the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office.
A witness told WAFB News she heard at least 25 to 30 gunshots in the area of the B Quick store on Airline Hwy. It started shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday morning. “I walked out into the street to see what was going on, there was a man lying in the street, I assume he was dead because he wasn’t moving.”
She also said the shooting started before police arrived. “This was not a come at police shooting. There were men out here shooting at each other before police ever got here.”
One of the shooters was described as being, “masked military sniper,” by witnesses on the scene.
News outlets are reporting there are two other shooters at large and that police have called in bomb units.
The situation in Baton Rouge — and around the country — has been tense since the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling by police in Baton Rouge, LA and Philander Castile by police in Falcon Heights, MN and then the ambush of police officers in Dallas, TX.
Protests have been taking place in baton Rouge ever since Sterling was killed and the tension has been palpable. Since the shooting, the police in the area said they couldn’t take anything for granted when it came to threats against law enforcement. Today it happened.
Louisiana Governor Jon Bel Edwards released a statement on Twitter saying, “This is an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing. Rest assured, every resource available to the state of Louisiana will be used to ensure the perpetrators are softly brought to justice. For now I’m asking all Louisianans to join Donna and me in praying for the officers who were involved and their families as the details continue to unfold.”
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