It’s heart breaking to say that another shooting has occurred. The world is becoming a seemingly darker place and it only gets worse and worse everyday. Early Sunday morning, July 17th, three officers were killed and three were wounded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This shooting occurred one mile away from the police headquarters in Baton Rouge at a gas station on Airline Highway. The three officers that died are of the ages of 45, 41, and 32. The other three officers are wounded, one in critical condition and the other two in fair condition. Each police officer is married and has a family at home.
The gunman, 29-year-old Gavin Long, was killed at the scene. Police believe that the gunman was not acting alone. There are two “persons of interest” being detained by police outside of Baton Rouge. This was not the first threat of attack on the Baton Rouge Police Department (BRPD). After the shooting of Alton Sterling, there were calls to “purge” the BRPD. Last week, the BRPD arrested a 12-year-old boy threatening to kill all white police officers. Tensions are said to be very high in Baton Rouge ever since the shooting of Alton Sterling. The Associated Press was able to talk to Sterling’s nephew, Terrance Carter, who said that his family just wants peace and that Alton would not have wanted any of this to happen.
President Obama spoke out on the attack calling it “cowardly and reprehensible”. Obama also urges politicians to calm their rhetoric and focus on unity. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement, "This is an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing.” There is still a lot of information not released due to possible unknown suspects and how recent this tragedy occurred.
There are no words to describe how devastating this shooting is. There are no words to describe how devastating the shooting in Dallas is. There are no words to describe how devastating the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile are. I sit here with no words because I feel useless in the midst of these attacks. Violence is not the answer and never will be the answer. Our country is becoming more and more divided and I wish I had the answers to fix it. I think we all wish we had the answers to fix the attacks that are happening so frequently, but we need time and healing before anything changes. In the words of Martin Luther King,
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
