The Advocate — Baton Rouge, July 18, 2016
Another police shooting is shaking the United States two weeks after five officers were killed in Dallas. This time in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Gavin Long, an honorably discharged marine veteran, killed three police officers and wounded another three near the police station.
The station has been one of the main locations for ongoing protests against the police killing of an unarmed African-American Alton Sterling on July 5 in the southern city. According to the Baton Rouge Advocate daily, Long was a resident of Missouri, and had also traveled to Dallas after the police officers were shot there on July 7. The Iraqi War veteran had also posted extremist videos online, but was not affiliated with a specific group.
The police officers killed have been identified as: Montrell Jackson, 32, Matthew Gerald, 41, and Brad Garafola, 45. All these were married with families.
Alton Sterling’s family decried the shooting and said they were “disgusted” by the attack on the law enforcement officers. They called for an end to violence to “stop this killing.”