This morning [Sunday, July 17] multiple agencies are sending reports of a shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana involving various police officers.
Police officers responded to a officer-involved shooting near Airline Highway near Old Hammond Highway according to CBS affiliate WAFB.
According to Mayor-President Kip Holden of the East Baton Rouge Parish, authorities are still attempting to put all information together.
“There is still an active scene. They are investigating,” Holden says. “Right now we are trying to get our arms around everything.”
So far, 3 officers are feared dead and according to Baton Rouge Police Cpl. L. J. McKneely “multiple” officers were down. The extent of their injuries is not yet known.
Sources say that witnesses made emergency calls to report a man walking down the highway with an assault rifle in tow. When officers arrived on scene, the gunman opened fire on them, killing three, including an officer who moved in to attempt to neutralize him.
While all information is not yet clear, this incident comes in the midst of heightened tensions among law enforcement and communities of color, specifically the Black community.
Weeks of unrest and anger among all American said have plagued the nation recently following the shooting deaths of Black men Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge and Philando Castile and Dallas police officers.
