VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN BATON ROUGE; THREE OFFICERS DEAD, SUSPECTS STILL AT LARGE

East County News Service

Slideshow photo courtesy @CNN on Twitter

July 17, 2016 (Baton Rouge, La.) - Three police officers and one shooter are dead and three officers are wounded in a shooting in the latest incident of police violence, this time in the capital of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, this morning, CNN reports.

The shooting began around 9 a.m. Central time when police received word about a "suspicious person walking down Airline Highway with an assault rifle" and reported to the scene.  

One of the suspects, who was reported to be wearing all black and wearing some type of mask, is dead.  The search is on for the other two shooters believed to have been involved.  A video that has since been removed from social media may be providing police with clue as to who the suspect is.  Police are also looking for anyone wearing army fatigues or all black or possibly a mask.

"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," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "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."

Baton Rouge was already on edge after the shooting death of Alton Sterling by police earlier this week. 

The U.S. has suffered an unusual amount of police shootings stemming from the deaths of African American males.  The shooting death of Philandro Castle in Minnesota led to an ambush of police officers in Dallas on July 7.