Baton Rouge police shooting latest updates, video: 3 officers dead, 3 wounded today
Published 1:01 pm Sunday, July 17, 2016
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Three officers are confirmed dead and three others wounded after a shooting in Baton Rouge, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman said Sunday. One suspect is dead and law enforcement officials believe two others are still at large, the spokeswoman said.
You can see live video updates from the Baton Rouge police shooting below at the bottom on this post and also a video from the actual shooting below that which was captured by an amateur who was nearby.
The latest Baton Rouge police shooting latest updates (all times local):
12:45 p.m.
Police in Louisiana say they are using a specialized robot to check for explosives near the body of a suspect who was shot and killed in Baton Rouge early Sunday.
The suspect is believed to have been involved in the shooting of law enforcement officers in the Louisiana city early Sunday. Three officers are dead and three are hospitalized with injuries. The shooting occurred less than 1 mile from police headquarters.
Baton Rouge Police Cpl. L’Jean Mckneely Jr. says authorities do not have an immediate indication that explosives are present.
12:25 p.m.
Authorities say three law enforcement officers have been killed and three have been injured in a shooting in Louisiana.
A sheriff’s spokesman in Baton Rouge also said that one suspect is dead and two others are believed to be at large.
Spokesman Casey Rayborn Hicks issued a statement asking the public to report anything suspicious in the area to 911. Officers and deputies from the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office were involved in the Sunday morning shooting that took place less than 1 miles from police headquarters.
___
Police in Louisiana say that more than one officer has been shot in Baton Rouge.
The shooting happened early Sunday, less than 1 mile from police headquarters.
Baton Rouge Police Sgt. Don Coppola did not know the extent of the injuries or the precise number of officers injured.
He said that authorities believe the “scene is contained,” meaning that a shooter was unlikely on the loose.
Casey Rayborn Hicks, a spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, said in a statement that the public should call 911 immediately if they see anything suspicious.
The shooting — which happened just before 9 a.m., less than 1 mile from police headquarters — comes amid spiraling tensions across the city — and the country — between the black community and police. The races of the suspect or suspects and the officers were not immediately known.
Baton Rouge Police Sgt. Don Coppola told The Associated Press earlier that the officers were rushed to a local hospital. Coppola said authorities are asking people to stay away from the area.
Multiple police units were stationed at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, where stricken officers were believed to be undergoing treatment at a trauma center. A police officer with a long gun was blocking the parking lot at the emergency room.
Spokeswoman Ashley Mendoza said the hospital received five patients from the police shooting, all “law enforcement professionals.” Of the two who survived the shooting, one is in critical condition and the other is in fair condition.
Officers and deputies from the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office were involved, according to Hicks.
Gov. John Bel Edwards asked the public to pray for the officers involved nad their families.
“Rest assured, every resource available to the State of Louisiana will be used to ensure the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice,” Edwards said in a statement.
An Associated Press reporter on the scene saw police vehicles with lights flashing massed about a half mile from the police headquarters on Airline Highway. Police armed with long guns on the road stopped at least two vehicles driving away from the scene and checked their trunks and vehicles before allowing them to drive away.
Police-community relations in Baton Rouge have been especially tense since the killing of 37-year-old Alton Sterling, a black man killed by white officers earlier this month after a scuffle at a convenience store. The killing was captured on cellphone video and circulated widely on the internet.
It was followed a day later by the shooting death of another black man in Minnesota, whose girlfriend livestreamed the aftermath of his death on Facebook. Then on Thursday, a black gunman in Dallas opened fire on police at a protest about the police shootings, killing five officers and heightening tensions even further.
Over the weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Baton Rouge to condemn Sterling’s death, including hundreds of demonstrators who congregated outside the police station. Authorities arrested about 200 people over the three-day weekend.
Michelle Rogers, 56, said the pastor at her church had led prayers Sunday for Sterling’s family and police officers, asking members of the congregation to stand up if they knew an officer.
Rogers said an officer in the congregation hastily left the church near the end of the service, and a pastor announced that “something had happened.”
“But he didn’t say what. Then we started getting texts about officers down,” she said.
Rogers and her husband drove near the scene, but were blocked at an intersection closed down by police.
“I can’t explain what brought us here,” she said. “We just said a prayer in the car for the families.”