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Three Police Officers Dead in Baton Rouge Shooting

CREDIT: SCREENSHOT, WAFB
CREDIT: SCREENSHOT, WAFB

Six police officers have been shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and three are dead, according to local news reports citing police sources.

At a Sunday afternoon press conference following the shooting, Louisiana State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson said that “there is no active shooter scenario going on in Baton Rouge. We believe that the person that shot and killed our officers was shot and killed at the scene.”

The shooting took place near the Hammond Aire Plaza on Airline Highway — two to three miles from the Baton Rouge Police Department headquarters — shortly before 9 a.m. Several Baton Rouge Police Officers were among those struck by the shooting, officials confirm. Earlier, CNN reported that one suspect is dead, but others may be at large.

“We have to do better,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said during the press conference. “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. And the people who carried out this act, the individuals, they do not represent the people of Baton Rrouge or the state of Louisiana or what’s best about our country.”

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Earlier in the day, Edwards condemned the shooting in a statement released on Twitter. “This is an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing. Rest assured, every resource available to the State of Louisiana will be used to ensure the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice.”

The Airline Highway has been a site for protestors following the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge. Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was shot by police officers at point-blank range while he was laying restrained on the ground. An eyewitness says Sterling was unarmed and empty-handed when he was killed. The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into Sterling’s death. The killing sparked mass protests in Baton Rouge last weekend in which riot police confronted marchers and arrested more than 150.

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Last week, Baton Rouge police officers announced that they made several arrests in an alleged plot to shoot police officers after a number of firearms were robbed from a local pawn shop.

Today’s shooting comes after the fatal shooting of five police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, Texas by a former U.S. Army soldier who said he was not affiliated with protesters or any other movement​.

“Our prayers go out to the officer who is still fighting for his life,” President Obama said at a press conference following the shooting. “This has happened far too often and I’ve spent a lot of time with law enforcement officers this past week. I’m surrounded by the best of the best every single day. Whenever this happens, you feel it. Your families feel it. But I want you to know reespect gratitude of Americans for what you do for us.”

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This is a breaking news story. We will continue to update this post.