The Louisiana governor called the shooting of Baton Rouge deputies and officers "an absolutely unspeakable heinous attack" Sunday, as the city mourned the deaths of three officers and prayed for the recovery of one "fighting for his life."
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards described Sunday morning's deadly ambush on six Baton Rouge officers as "unjustifiable" and said, "the violence, the hatred just has to stop."
Officials said the officers were shot Sunday after responding to a call about a man walking down Airline Highway with an assault rifle at approximately 8:40 a.m. outside a store in Baton Rouge -- about a mile from police headquarters.
Authorities did not name the shooter, but sources identified him to Fox News as Gavin Eugene Long of Kansas City, Mo., who they said carried out the attack on his 29th birthday.
Long served in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years, including one deployment to Iraq, according to officials.
Three officers are confirmed dead in the ambush. Three others are injured, including one critically. The gunman was shot and killed at the scene.
Baton Rouge police department identified two of the slain officers as Montrell Jackson and Matthew Gerald.
Jackson, 32, served on the force for 10 years and had a 4-month-old child, while Gerald, 41, served for less than a year.
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Authorities talk to the driver of a car near an area where several officers were shot while on duty less than a mile from police headquarters, Sunday, July 17, 2016, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Mike Kunzelman)
The third slain cop was identified by the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's office as Brad Garafola.
Casey Rayborn Hicks told The Associated Press Sunday that the slain deputy was 45-years-old and had been with the sheriff's office for 24 years.
Hicks also identified the injured sheriff's deputies as 41-year-old Nicholas Tullier an 18-year veteran, and 51-year-old Bruce Simmons, a 23-year veteran.
Hicks says that Tullier is in critical condition while Simmons has non-life threatening injuries.
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Police officers block off a road after a shooting of police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. July 17, 2016. (REUTERS/Joe Penney)
Authorities called the investigation as "ongoing," but said there is no active shooter in Baton Rouge. They said the suspect killed was the sole shooter, but they are "not ready to say" he acted alone.
"We believe that the person who shot and killed our officers, that he was the person that was shot and killed at the scene," Col. Mike Edmonson told reporters at an afternoon press conference.
A state police spokesman said late Sunday two "persons of interests" who were detained earlier were released.
Major Doug Cain said that the individuals from Addis were questioned and released but that the investigation was still ongoing. He said no charges were filed against them.
Two of the deceased officers are from the Baton Rouge Police Department and the third is from the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office. A fourth officer, a sheriff's deputy, is in critical condition. Two additional officers suffered non-life threatening injuries.
A witness told WBRZ-TV that a man 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, according to Fox radio affiliate WJBO.
A police robot was brought in to ensure there were no explosives on the dead suspect or in the vicinity.
A government official told Fox News that authorities are working to confirm a report that a shooter was seen with an an AR-type weapon and wearing body armor.
Fox8 Live reported that a witness described hearing at least 25 to 30 gunshots in the area of the convenience store.
“I walked out into the street to see what was going on; there was a man lying in the street,” the witness told the station. ”I assume he was dead because he wasn’t moving.”
Brady Vancel, who claims he saw the gunman, told the station that he "was in all black." "He had a mask on and a gun in his hand," Vancel said. "The way he was moving you would know that this was just a pedestrian running with a rifle in his hand more than someone with trained skills to move in that way with a rifle."
The FBI and the ATF are on scene, helping state and local police investigate what is being described as a "very large crime scene."
President Obama said in an address Sunday evening that the shooting deaths underscore the danger police face every day.
"Our hearts go out to the families who are grieveing, go out to the officer fighting for his life," Obama said.
Baton Rouge and other cities across the nation have seen anti-police protests since the deaths this month of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two black men shot and killed by cops.
Sterling, 37, was shot and killed July 5 as he wrestled with two white police officers outside the Baton Rouge convenience store where he sold music and movies on compact discs. Police say he was armed.
Castile, 33, was shot and killed July 6 while in a vehicle with his girlfriend in the St. Paul, Minn., suburb of Falcon Heights.
On July 7, five Dallas police officers were gunned down in a sniper attack by Micah Johnson, 25, who was angry over the recent shootings by police and “wanted to kill white people,” according to authorities. Johnson was later killed by a police department robot.
Fox News' Catherine Herridge, Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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