BATON ROUGE — Remnants of the gun battle that left three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers dead and a fourth clinging to life late Sunday night could not be scrubbed away.
The scene was accessible to the public roughly 14 hours after the first shots were fired by Gavin Long, a former Marine and Iraq War veteran from Kansas City first identified by a caller to 911 as a “suspicious person walking down Airline Highway with an assault rifle.” The Baton Rouge police station is located just a few blocks away, and officers and sheriff’s deputies responded quickly, presumably into an ambush-type situation.
Though a fire truck was spotted spraying the area with water, dried clumps of blood could still be seen. Large bullet holes were also visible in the metal paneling behind the B-Quik gas station.
The shootout took place in a nondescript stretch of highway populated by convenience stores, car dealerships and fast food chains. A tragedy that could’ve happened anywhere, according to police, occurred in an area that looks like it could be everywhere else.
“There’s no way to anticipate this,” said Glenda Foster, a resident of Baton Rouge for 62 years. “If something stupid was going to happen, I would’ve thought it would’ve been (Friday),” when Alton Sterling, a black man who died at the hands of two white officers, was laid to rest.
Sterling’s family has repeatedly pleaded for peace following Sterling’s death on July 5th. In a statement released after Sunday’s shooting, Quinyetta McMillon, mother of Sterling’s son Cameron, said she was “disgusted by the despicable act of violence today that resulted in the shooting deaths of members of the Baton Rouge law enforcement. My family is heartbroken for the officers and their families.”
Family members confirmed the death of Baton Rouge officer Montrell Jackson. Another officer and a East Baton Rouge sheriff’s deputy, identified by several media outlets as Matthew Gerald and Brad Garafola, were also killed.
Another sheriff’s deputy is “fighting for his life,” East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux told reporters. Two other law enforcement officers were hospitalized with non-life threatening wounds.
Police are expected to release additional details at a press conference Monday afternoon.
Sunday night, for the first time since the night after Sterling's death, there were no visible protests outside the Baton Rouge Police Department. The previous weekend was marked by several tense standoffs between officers decked in riot gear and protesters.
What happens next is anyone’s guest.
“We honestly have good people here,” Foster said, adding that, if Baton Rouge residents are in control of the events that follow, “you’ll see a movement towards peace.”
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