Black Ex-Marine Sergeant..AMBUSHES and KILLS 3 Baton Rouge POLICE OFFICERS!!
The man who shot three police officers dead and injured three more in
Baton Rouge has been named as
Gavin Eugene Long, a black man from
Kansas City who was 'celebrating' his 29th birthday today, according to reports.
His identity was reported by
CBS News as the
Governor of Louisiana made a passionate plea for the 'hatred to stop' after an apparent lone gunman shot dead three police officers and injured three more in Baton Rouge this morning.
Police shot dead a masked black man from
Missouri this morning after he opened fire on officers next to a gas station in what appears to have been an ambush.
Officers are continuing to hunt down two more suspects who were said to be 'on the run', but it looks increasingly likely that the gunman, who was dressed in black and carrying an assault rifle, acted alone.
A robot was used to check the man's body for explosives after he was shot dead outside a B-Quik convenience store on
Airline Highway.
Gov.
John Bel Edwards said the violence in his state and across the
United States was 'unjustifiable' at a press conference following the mass shooting.
The three officers who died have not been named but are aged 45, 41 and 32. The 41-year-old joined the police less than a year ago, whereas the 32-year-old was in his 10th year of service, police said.
The three police officers injured have also not been identified. A 41-year-old is in a critical condition in hospital, while two others - aged 51 and 41 - are stable. In a plea to
Louisiana and the nation on Sunday afternoon, Gov Edwards branded the attack 'unjustified'.
'
It's unjustified, it's unjustifiable, the violence, the hatred just has to stop,' he said.
'It's unspeakable that these men, risking their lives to protect and serve, were taken out in the way they were. 'They are everyday heroes.
'I want tor reassure everyone that we are doing everything humanly possible so that everyone is protected.
Everything will be done to bring the shooter, or shooters if there's more than one, to justice.
'An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us and it has to stop,' Gov Edwards added.
The people who carried this out do not represent the city of Baton Rouge, or the
State of Louisiana or this country.
'There simply is no place for more violence, it doesn't help anyone, it doesn't help any injustice perceived or real, it is just another injustice.
We are not going to tolerate more hate and violence tearing apart the lives and families of people in Louisiana.' Baton Rouge Police Cpl. L'
Jean McKneely Jr said the shooting took place outside and possibly inside the B-Quik convenience store on Airline Highway. The suspect's body was found next door, outside of a fitness center, he said.
According to the
Advocate, an officer made a report over a police radio at around 8.45am saying that a 'lady who came up and said there was a suspect walking with a
... and an assault rifle out here behind the store'.
Two minutes later, another officer was heard shouting: '
Shots fired, officer down, shots fired, officer down!'
Another yelled: 'Got a city officer down, shots fired! Shots fired on
Airline! I don’t know where he’s f***
ing shooting from.'
Police officers also described the man as wearing a mask and 'carrying an
A-R' in the radio messages.
An injured officer is then heard shouting that he has been shot in the left arm, and moments later cops radio in that they have seen a 'second' gunman.
Two of the dead are Baton Rouge police officers, while the third is a sheriff's deputy in
East Baton Rouge, an official said. A video taken by a bystander at the scene captured the panic as gunshots rang out.
Another showed police officers brandishing rifles as they ran towards the scene.
'All we know at this time is that there was a shooting. We believe there were multiple suspects
. one suspect is deceased.
Multiple officers were shot. We do have some that were killed,' Baton Rouge Police
Corporal L'Jean McKneely said.
He also appealed for help tracking down any remaining suspects. 'If they are wearing army fatigues, if they are wearing all black, if they are wearing a mask, if they are wearing anything that's out there, please, give us a call,' he added.
Two hospitals are on lockdown, with armed police officers guarding all entrances.
People living in nearby homes have been told to stay indoors.
There were also reports of a shooting at the
Cortana Mall in Baton Rouge, but these turned out to be false.
President Obama has been briefed on the situation and has offered any assistance needed, the
White House said.
In a statement, he said the slain police officers had been 'killed in a cowardly and reprehensible assault'.