Three officers were killed and three hurt in a shooting in Baton, Rouge. A witness took video of the scene

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Baton Rouge shooter identified by law enforcement sources as Gavin Long also went by the name Cosmo Setepenra, and had at least two websites where he described himself as a “Freedom Strategist, Mental Game Coach, Nutritionist, Author and Spiritual Advisor,” according to a CNN review of the websites.

In addition, Long followed several conspiracy groups devoted to government surveillance and monitoring.

CNN found that an email address linked to Long showed he was a member of a support group in an organization called Freedom from Covert Harassment and Surveillance, whose mission is to help those “Marginalized and abused by… Remote Brain experimentation, Remote Neural Monitoring of an entire Humans Body.”

Previous story:

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Baton Rouge police shooter has been identified as 29-year-old Gavin Long, two law enforcement sources tell CNN.

The shooter apparently died in a shootout with police on his birthday. He was born, the sources said, on July, 17,1987.

There is not an “active shooter scenario” in Baton Rouge, said Col. Michael D. Edmonson, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police. He was speaking at a press conference about the shooting that left three law enforcement officers dead on Sunday.

According to the Associated Press, police said Long was the “sole shooter,” but they are not ready to say he acted alone.

Officials also told the Associated Press two “persons of interest” were detained near Baton Rouge.

BREAKING: Police spokesman says 2 "persons of interest" in the killing of 3 police officers have been detained near Baton Rouge. — The Associated Press (@AP) July 17, 2016

The dead suspect in the Baton Rouge shooting was wearing all black and was wearing a mask, Baton Rouge Police Department Sgt. Don Coppola said. Coppola said he did not know what the mask looked like, but that it was “some type of mask to conceal (the shooter’s) identity.”

Obama on Baton Rouge: We need to ‘temper our words and open our hearts’

President Barack Obama on Sunday condemned violence against law enforcement and called on Americans to “temper our words and open our hearts,” in the wake of the slaying of three Louisiana law enforcement officers.

“We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement. Attacks on police are an attack on all of us, and the rule of law that makes society possible,” Obama said, speaking from the White House press briefing room. “We need to temper our words and open our hearts — all of us.”

The President said a fourth police officer remains in critical condition and that the killer’s motive was still unknown.

In his brief remarks, Obama stressed the importance of staying away from divisive rhetoric and actions, particularly ahead of two weeks of the Republican and Democratic conventions where he predicted that political rhetoric would be “more overheated than usual.”

“Around the clock news cycles and social media sometimes amplify these divisions,” Obama said. “That is why it is so important that everyone: regardless of race or political party or profession, regardless of what organizations you’re a part of, everyone right now focus on words and actions that can unite this country rather than divide it further.”

The President also stressed — as he did after a police ambush earlier this month in Dallas that killed five officers — the danger that police face day-to-day.

“The death of these three police officers underscore the danger that police across the country confront every single day,” he said.

The shooting deaths of three law enforcement officers, with three more injured, came in Baton Rouge — a city already on edge after an African-American man recently was shot and killed by police.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch also addressed the killings.

“For the second time in two weeks, multiple law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty,” Lynch said in a statement. “There is no place in the United States for such appalling violence, and I condemn these acts in the strongest possible terms. I pledge the full support of the Department of Justice as the investigation unfolds. Our hearts and prayers are with the fallen and wounded officers, their families, and the entire Baton Rouge community in this extraordinarily difficult time.”

Previous story:



Three Baton Rouge police officers were killed and three others wounded Sunday. Officials think the attack on the officers is the work of multiple gunmen.

Police received a call of a “suspicious person walking down Airline Highway with an assault rifle,” a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN. When police arrived, the shooting began.

One of the suspects is dead. Authorities believe two others may be at large. The dead suspect in the Baton Rouge shooting was wearing all black and was wearing a mask, Baton Rouge Police Department Sgt. Don Coppola said. Coppola said he did not know what the mask looked like, but that it was “some type of mask to conceal (the shooter’s) identity.”

“If they are wearing army fatigues; if they are wearing all black; if they are wearing a mask; if they are wearing anything that’s out there, please, give us a call,” said Baton Rouge Police Cpl. L.J. McKneely.

Investigators are reviewing a video of the Baton Rouge firefight posted to social media to see who might have been involved, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN’s Pamela Brown. The video has since been taken down.

The firefight took place in a part of town that the source described as rough. The area is a known drug trafficking area. It is a location where police often go to grab coffee.

President Obama quickly issued a statement condemning the attack on law enforcement.

“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,” Obama said. “These are attacks on public servants, on the rule of law, and on civilized society, and they have to stop. …These attacks are the work of cowards who speak for no one. They right no wrongs. They advance no causes.”

The law enforcement official described the situation in Baton Rouge as a powder keg.

The shooting took place around 9 a.m. (10 a.m. ET) in the city of about 230,000 people. “There was no talking, just shooting,” McKneely said.

By noon, authorities had secured the scene and were making sure there weren’t any explosives left behind.

“After that, we’re going to gather as much information as we can and work this case as best as we can to find all individuals that were involved in this,” McKneely said.

“Somebody might have seen something suspicious, may know of guys plotting to do this. That’s why we’re reaching out to the community.”

Since the shooting death of Alton Sterling by Baton Rouge police earlier this month, the department has worried about credible threats against officers.

It has been an emotionally charged few days across the country because of the protests stemming from the Sterling shooting and the shooting by police of Philando Castile in Minnesota, plus the ambush on Dallas police officers on July 7 in which a sniper killed five officers.

“This is an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said.

Kip Holden, the mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, said “everything is moving fast.”

“There is still an active scene. They are investigating,” he said. “Right now we are trying to get our arms around everything.”

Hillary's statement on the shooting in Baton Rouge. pic.twitter.com/4a0MVF3025 — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 17, 2016