Report: 3 police officers in Baton Rouge shot dead

Source: USA Today:

July 17, 2016 at 12:30

Three police officers have been shot dead in Baton Rouge, La., and four others were wounded, authorities said Sunday.

The three officers were shot near the department headquarters, Baton Route Mayor Kip Holden told MSNBC. At least four others were injured in the shooting, he said.

"They are investigating," he said. "Right now we are trying to get our arms around everything."

Two Baton Rouge police officers and one East Baton Rouge sheriff's deputy are dead, according to WBRZ-TV and The Advocate newspaper.

The gunman was shot, a Louisiana State Police spokesman said, but his condition was not immediately clear.

#lagov on the shooting of law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge today: pic.twitter.com/BU3B4Iznbe
— Gov John Bel Edwards (@LouisianaGov) July 17, 2016

Both lanes of Airline Highway were shut down from Goodwood Boulevard to Old Hammond Highway and from Old Hammond to Drusilla Drive, according to East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks. The scene is still active, Hicks told The Advocate.

About 20 police officers wearing bulletproof vests are near the scene and a helicopter was flying overhead, the paper reported.

Kyle Suire, owner of the Jambalaya Shoppe restaurant says “they have 200 cop in our parking lot.” And “they’ve got everything on lockdown.” He says he arrived too late this morning to see what happened. “I saw all the cops rushing in.”

The Baton Rouge mayor's office urged urged people to stay home, stay off the streets for now in immediate wake of police shooting, according to The Advocate.

Praying for the officers, their families, the entire BRPD, and our city. Please bring these killers to justice.#
— Rep. Ted James (@EdwardTedJames) July 17, 2016

A witness told WBRZ-TV that a man was dressed in black with his face covered was shooting indiscriminately when he walked out between a convenience store and car wash across from Hammond Air Plaza. Police closed the streets between the police department’s headquarters and Interstate 12.

Michael Vinsanau of WBRZ tweeted that more than a dozen marked and unmarked police cars sped to the scene, and that a SWAT team was on location. State police armed with rifles are posted blocks away, Vinsanau tweeted.

State Police SWAT now on scene pic.twitter.com/r3Eni4aODL
— Michael Vinsanau (@MVinsanau) July 17, 2016

Baton Rouge police have been under scrutiny after officers fatally shot Alton Sterling, 37, on July 5 while he was pinned to the ground. Sterling was black and the officers involved were white. Sterling’s funeral was Friday. Police have said they thought he was reaching for a gun.