Baton Rouge Shooter Deliberately Targeted Officers, Police Say

Police guard the emergency room entrance of Our Lady Of The Lake Medical Center, where wounded officers were brought, in Baton Rouge, La., Sunday, July 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The gunman who killed three and injured three police officers at a shopping area in Baton Rouge Sunday was intentionally targeting law enforcement officers, said Louisiana Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson at a press conference on Monday, July 18.

The police officers killed all left behind family, a total of three wives and seven now fatherless children. Of the three injured officers, one is currently in very critical condition in ICU after having been shot in the head and stomach.

“There is no doubt whatsoever that these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated,”said Edmonson, who cited video evidence.  “It was a calculated act against those who work to protect this community every single day.”

New Evidence

Reporters earlier today revealed that shooter Gavin Eugene Long was a former marine sergeant who served in Iraq and was last known to reside in Kansas City.

He had been in the city for several days before the attacks, where Edmonson says he was clearly scouting locations for the purpose of specifically targeting officers.

Though investigations are underway as to whether anyone associated with or aided the shooter in any fashion, Edmonson says investigators are confident that Long was the only shooter at the scene.

While giving a timeline of the shootings on a map, Edmonson noted that there were many citizens in the area, but Long disregarded them all, calling his intentions “accurate” and “engaging.”

Three guns from the shooter have been recovered at the scene and are being analyzed to determine ownership history.

A Chevy Malibu from Missouri was also recovered, which is similarly undergoing investigation to determine where the car has been.

Baton Rouge Police Department Chief Carl Dabadie praised the work of officers on the scene who disposed of the shooter, and said he believes Long would have gone to another location had he not been killed. 

“He was not going to stop here. After he was finished here, I have no doubts that he was going to our headquarters. And he was going to take more lives,” Dabadie said.