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Three police officers killed in Baton Rouge shooting, others injured | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Three police officers have been killed after a gunfight in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the East Baton Rouge sheriff’s department said on Sunday. | Three police officers have been killed after a gunfight in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the East Baton Rouge sheriff’s department said on Sunday. |
Related: Baton Rouge: police officers 'feared dead after shooting in Louisiana' - live updates | Related: Baton Rouge: police officers 'feared dead after shooting in Louisiana' - live updates |
Three other officers were injured, the department said in a statement. One suspect was killed and officers believed “two others may be at large”. | |
“At approximately 9am Baton Rouge police officers and East Baton Rouge sheriff’s deputies were involved in a shooting incident on Airline Highway near Old Hammond Highway,” the department said. | “At approximately 9am Baton Rouge police officers and East Baton Rouge sheriff’s deputies were involved in a shooting incident on Airline Highway near Old Hammond Highway,” the department said. |
Baton Rouge police corporal L’Jean McKneely has also confirmed “multiple officers were shot” at a B-Quick Convenience Store near the highway. A shootout with police took place in the area of the shopping center, he said, but added: “that’s what I know for sure right now.” | |
“We’re securing the area with a deceased suspect, a suspect that has been killed. We’re making sure there aren’t any explosives in the area.” | “We’re securing the area with a deceased suspect, a suspect that has been killed. We’re making sure there aren’t any explosives in the area.” |
McKneely said that police were using a bomb-defusing robot to secure the scene, and that federal law enforcement and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had joined Baton Rouge police and the sheriff’s department. | McKneely said that police were using a bomb-defusing robot to secure the scene, and that federal law enforcement and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had joined Baton Rouge police and the sheriff’s department. |
Police closed the roads and dozens of officers surrounded the area, live video of the scene showed. | Police closed the roads and dozens of officers surrounded the area, live video of the scene showed. |
“The initial call was shots fired,” Kip Holden, the mayor-president of East Baton Rouge parish, told NBC. “Whenever an officer hears those words, those two words, the response is immediate, everybody in that area goes to that scene.” | |
He did not immediately return calls from the Guardian. | |
“We are advising the public to please take an alternate route and steer clear of the area,” the department said of the large crime scene, where they set up barricades and searched cars. “Those in the area are asked to remain indoors and contact law enforcement immediately if they see anything suspicious.” | |
John Bel Edwards, the governor of Louisiana, called the shooting “an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us”. | John Bel Edwards, the governor of Louisiana, called the shooting “an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us”. |
Police sergeant Don Coppola told a local station, WAFB, that he did not know “the extent of injury” of officers at the hospital. | |
“We are asking everyone to stay away,” Coppola said. “We feel the scene has been contained and we ask individuals to give it some thought.” | “We are asking everyone to stay away,” Coppola said. “We feel the scene has been contained and we ask individuals to give it some thought.” |
Hicks also called the local news station, and said police “believe that the area is contained though it is still active”. | |
She too urged the public to stay indoors and stay away from Old Hammond Highway and Airline Highway. A spokesperson at the hospital could not say how many officers had been brought to the facility. | She too urged the public to stay indoors and stay away from Old Hammond Highway and Airline Highway. A spokesperson at the hospital could not say how many officers had been brought to the facility. |
Video taken by bystanders near the gunfight showed police taking cover behind police cruisers near a highway and a car wash, shots audible in the background. | |
Baton Rouge has been wracked by tense protests in recent weeks following the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling and then the killings of five police officers in Dallas a few days later. Last weekend thousands protested in the streets of the Louisiana city to condemn Sterling’s death, and police arrested about 200 people over three days. | |
Holden said he was not sure whether the shooting was related to the protests. “Common sense needs to prevail, we need to be the great city that this is,” he said. | |
“Rest assured, every resource available to the state of Louisiana will be used to ensure the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice,” the governor added in his statement. “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.” | “Rest assured, every resource available to the state of Louisiana will be used to ensure the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice,” the governor added in his statement. “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.” |