BATON ROUGE – Two East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office deputies and two Baton Rouge Police Department officers were killed and three others wounded during a Sunday morning shooting on Airline Highway near the Hammond Aire Plaza.
Authorities have confirmed that the first of three suspects is a Missouri man who was killed after the shooting. Two other suspects were taken into custody in West Baton Rouge Parish and are being questioned by Baton Rouge Police.
A motive has yet to be established that connects the shooting to recent protests in Baton Rouge.
Officers responded to reports of a man armed with an assault rifle at the B-Quik store on Airline Highway near its intersection with Old Hammond Highway at around 9 a.m. Sunday.
Dispatch audio records what happened next as officers were reported down when a man at the scene opened fire, shooting “indiscriminately,” according to a witness at the scene. Several officers were hit and a massive manhunt began in the area as authorities searched for suspects that were described as wearing all black or camouflage clothing.
Police worked an active shooting scene at the B-Quik gas station into the afternoon. Law enforcement confirmed that one of the shooters was dead somewhere close to the store. Police sent a robot into the store to check for explosives after the scene was contained.
An alert went out to the public to stay indoors and contact authorities should they spot any suspicious activity or suspects matching the description provided. Two men were stopped in Addis after someone said they were initially spotted heading into the Port Allen Walmart to change clothes. They were stopped by police on LA-1 South at a gas station where the men were taken into custody. A witness at the scene said the vehicle had Texas plates.
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Gov. John Bel Edwards has called a 3 p.m. news conference to discuss security. Check back on WBRZ.com and on our Facebook page for livestreams of the event. Gov. Edwards met with the injured officers and their families at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center ahead of preparing for his upcoming afternoon news conference.
Leaders of the Baton Rouge religious community will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. at the Triple S convenience store on North Foster Drive. That store was the site of an officer-involved shooting that left a black man dead in the early morning hours of July 5. Police said they have yet to establish a motive that connects the shootings to recent protests or the death of Alton Sterling.
President Barack Obama has been briefed on the shooting, and the White House has been in contact with Baton Rouge officials at several points throughout the morning. He’ll speak at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
“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,” said a statement from President Obama. “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.”
The names of the officers involved have yet to be released until the families of the victims are notified. One EBRSO deputy at Baton Rouge General hospital was listed in fair condition as of 3 p.m.
