Reported By:
| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Jul 18, 2016, 12:48 AM IST
At least three police officers were killed and three others wounded today in a shootout in the US city of Baton Rouge with one gunman dead and two suspects believed to be at large, the latest gun violence incident to rock the country.
The motive of the shooting was not known but comes amid spiralling tensions across the city and the country between the black community and police amid the ambush on Dallas police officers where a sniper killed five officers. The races of the suspects and the officers involved in today's shooting were not immediately known.
Officials confirmed that three law enforcement officers died while three others were wounded during an early morning shooting on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, over a kilometre away from police headquarters.
The city was on high alert, officials said.
With agency inputs
According to Reuters, one of the policemen shot is critical, another person is in fair condition and condition of the third person is non-critical.
The crime scene is contained but authorities are still looking for more than one suspects.
There are contradictory reports about the motive of the attack. RT.com has quoted an eyewitness who says that the gun fire started even before the policemen arrived.
Officials looking for suspects (Reuters)
White House issued the following statement from President Obama on Baton Rouge shooting
I condemn, in the strongest sense of the word, the attack on law enforcement in Baton Rouge. For the second time in two weeks, police officers who put their lives on the line for ours every day were doing their job when they were killed in a cowardly and reprehensible assault. These are attacks on public servants, on the rule of law, and on civilized society, and they have to stop.
I’ve offered my full support, and the full support of the federal government, to Governor Edwards, Mayor Holden, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Baton Rouge Police Department. And make no mistake – justice will be done.
We may not yet know the motives for this attack, but I want to be clear: there is no justification for violence against law enforcement. None. These attacks are the work of cowards who speak for no one. They right no wrongs. They advance no causes. The officers in Baton Rouge; the officers in Dallas – they were our fellow Americans, part of our community, part of our country, with people who loved and needed them, and who need us now – all of us – to be at our best.
Today, on the Lord’s day, all of us stand united in prayer with the people of Baton Rouge, with the police officers who’ve been wounded, and with the grieving families of the fallen. May God bless them all.”
Republican candidate Donald Trump has responded to Baton Rouge shooting.
VIdeo: Baton Rouge police, East Baton Rouge deputies arrive at Our Lady of the Lake hospital after police shooting https://t.co/xMmxci0dqS
— LAXPD UNION (LAAPOA) (@AirportPoliceLA) July 17, 2016
At least three police officers have been shot dead according to the Mayor. He has also confirmed that at least four officers are injured.
Kip Holden, mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, has told CNN that "three officers are feared dead."
According to reports in USA Today, a man dressed in black with face covered shoot indiscriminantly. Officers who were standing along Airline Highway were shot. Heavily marked officers are currently in the crime scene.
Within the last minute, at least a dozen marked and unmarked police units have flown by @WBRZ pic.twitter.com/18aZAyhTtj
— Michael Vinsanau (@MVinsanau) July 17, 2016
Police spokesman Don Coppola told ABC television affiliate WAFB, "The scene, we feel now, is contained," he said. Coppola had no information on the extent of injuries or whether a suspect or suspects had been detained.
According to RT. com, unconfirmed report suggests upto eight police officers may have been shot by the assailant. Gunman is still at large. The mayor has confirmed that at least two officers are dead.
According to PTI, three police officers have been shot. Reuters is reporting that the crime scene has been 'contained'.
