Obama to police: Thanks for serving, ‘we have your backs’

The weekend after Sterling’s death, police in riot gear arrested almost 200 protesters.

On Thursday, one of the law enforcement officers wounded in the ambush, East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Deputy Bruce Simmons, was discharged from the hospital.

President Barack Obama condemned the attack, vowing justice would be done and calling on Americans to focus on unity. Any attack on police is an unjustified attack on all of us. Officers are also being instructed to take all meals and personal breaks in pairs.

To better protect its officers, the Boston Police Department is requiring that two officers be in every patrol unit.

Residents said their city had been returning to normal before the killing of the officers, two white and one black.

Earlier this month, however, Obama demanded that police officers admit and address the problems of racism within their departments.

“We know nothing about this man”, Washington reportedly said. “That’s how this country gets united”. The men were released Sunday evening after being questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Law enforcement officials told CNN that Long rented a vehicle in Kansas City after the Dallas shootings and drove it to Baton Rouge.

Pierce said he was friends with Alton Sterling, the black man shot by white police officers two weeks ago.

The protests following Sterling’s death had petered out and police had not made any arrests for reasons of civil unrest for six days, officials said. “He drew them to the scene”.

Col. Mike Edmonson, superintendent of Louisiana State Police, confirmed the timeline of events and used large pictures of the crime scene to walk reporters through the shooting. Edwards described the shooting as an “absolutely unspeakable heinous attack”. Col. Robert Williams, Chief of the Maine State Police, said Monday that troopers are being more careful because they’re more anxious.

On the affluent south side of Baton Rouge, a clutch of plastic balloons bobs in front of the gas station where an ex-U.S. “That’s all they care about”, he said to the camera.

A Kasich spokeswoman said the governor did not have the power to suspend the open-carry law. “There’s a lot of hurting people”.

The single gunshot that killed Long, 29, was sacked by an officer from about a hundred yards away, police officials said on Monday as they deepened their investigation into the second racially charged armed assault on USA law enforcement this month.

He posted frequently about the police shooting of black men, adding that only acts of violence by “alpha” men like him could result in change.

“That’s when I got scared”, the witness said. These are trying times. He urged people: “Please don’t let hate infect your heart”.

The gunman also critically wounded a deputy who is “fighting for his life”, said East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux.

There will be another vigil Tuesday at 7 P.M. honoring all three officers. One of them, Deputy Nicholas Tullier, was in critical condition. He was a 24-year veteran of the sheriff’s office.

Carrying two rifles and a pistol, Long parked his auto near a beauty supply store mid-morning. He apparently had a gun and a long criminal record that, according to the New York Times included aggravated battery, domestic abuse battery and carnal knowledge of a juvenile. Shots then rang out, killing the 37-year-old black man. A data network specialist, he was deployed to Iraq from June 2008 until January 2009, earning several medals and commendations.

He left a long trail of information online about his beliefs under the pseudonym Cosmo Setepenra.

Protests were held throughout Baton Rouge the weekend following his death and continued on a smaller scale the following week.

But Long, who was black, said in a series of social media messages posted in recent days, some from Dallas, that he was fed up with the mistreatment of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement, and praised the attack on Dallas police.

The penalties for killing a police officer are rightly more severe than those for killing a civilian because police are symbols of the rule of law, she said.