The chaotic shootout between Baton Rouge officers and a lone gunman ranged around a series of commercial buildings before a SWAT officer killed the suspect with a 100-yard shot, police said Monday.
The gunman, Gavin Eugene Long, 29, of Kansas City, Mo., had an IWA Tavor SAR 5.56-caliber rifle and Springfield XD 9.9mm pistol with him during the shootout Sunday morning, according to Col. Michael Edmonson, superintendent of state police. Another Stag Arms M4 Variant 5.56-caliber semi-automatic rifle was at his rented Chevrolet Malibu car, Edmonson said.
The guns are being analyzed for the chain of ownership, he said.
By watching videos from the area around a car wash and convenience store where the shooting occurred, police said Long ignored civilians and shot only at police, Edmonson said.
“It is chilling in the sheer brutality,” Edmonson said. “They were intentionally targeted and assassinated.”
Long had parked and looked inside an empty police car parked at a convenience store, and then walked around the building, where he was confronted by the three officers who were slain, Edmonson said.
“It was chaotic,” he said. “When he engaged those police officers, it was deliberate and extremely accurate.”
Long shot two Baton Rouge officers, Montrell Jackson, 32, and Matthew Gerald, 41, killing one and injuring one, Edmonson said.
But when Garafola saw the wounded officer still moving, he came out to help and Long returned to shoot them both dead, Edmonson said.
“Deputy Garafola died as a hero,” East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux III said. “My deputy went down fighting.”
The gunman got back in his car and drove behind a series of buildings before stopping to shoot other officers. By then, a Baton Rouge SWAT team arrived and an officer shot Long from about 100 yards away, Edmonson said.
“That shot that are SWAT team made was a hell of a shot," Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. said.
The wounded deputy who is fighting for his life, Nicholas Tullier, 41, was shot in the head and stomach, and he remains in intensive care, Gautreaux said.
“He’s in very, very critical condition,” he said. “He’s not in good shape at all.”
A third deputy, Bruce Simmons, 51, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Gautreaux said. The bone between his shoulder to elbow was shattered, and he has titanium rod in his arm, he said.
A 41-year-old city officer also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Speaking from the White House, Obama said Sunday afternoon there was no justification for Sunday's "cowardly and reprehensible" violence against law enforcement.
“Regardless of motive, the death of these three brave officers underscores the danger that police across the country confront every single day," Obama said Sunday afternoon.