NATION
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 7A
‘Sheer brutality’: Police detail
Baton Rouge shooting scene
By MELINDA DESLATTE
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — The horriic
scene unfolded in a matter of minutes, a
black-clad man with military training
stalking law enforcement oficers and
ignoring horriied onlookers as he shot
anyone he could ind wearing a badge.
Police say Gavin Long, 29, of Kansas
City, Missouri, brazenly prowled a crime
scene of hundreds of yards around a
cluster of nondescript buildings along
a busy highway, rile pointed straight
ahead as he sought targets.
And they say he shot to kill.
“It is chilling in the sheer brutality,”
Louisiana State Police Col. Mike
Edmonson said Monday, describing
surveillance videos that recorded Long as
he gunned down three law enforcement
oficers Sunday and wounded three more
before he was shot and killed. “These
oficers were intentionally targeted and
assassinated. It was a calculated act.”
Two of the slain oficers were from
the Baton Rouge Police Department:
32-year-old Montrell Jackson and
41-year-old Matthew Gerald. The third
was a deputy with the East Baton Rouge
Parish Sheriff’s Ofice, 45-year-old Brad
Garafola.
Oficials provided the irst detailed
accounts of the shooting scene Monday,
using a map to describe the chaotic
shootout with Long. Baton Rouge Police
Chief Carl Dabadie wouldn’t say who
was shot at which location, and he hasn’t
named his wounded oficer.
Carrying two riles and a pistol, Long
parked his car near a beauty supply store
mid-morning. Gun raised and faced
partially covered with a ski mask, he
approached a parked police car at the
gas station and convenience store next
door — only to ind the unit empty.
Authorities believe the irst 911 call
came in, reporting a “dude with a rile,”
as he returned to his car.
Undeterred, Long located another
possible target at a nearby car wash. But
again he was thwarted. Edmonson said
by the time the former Marine parked his
car, the oficer there had driven away.
He wasn’t interested in anyone
without a badge, oficials said.
“Other people, he totally ignored
them. He acted like they weren’t even
there,” East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff
Sid Gautreaux said.
AP Photo/John Locher
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump
walks off the stage with his wife Melania during
the Republican National Convention, Monday in
Cleveland.
Melania Trump ignites
GOP convention after
gloom, turmoil
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
Dechia Gerald, wife of slain Baton Rouge police oficer Matthew Gerald,
cries while holding their children Fynleigh, left, and Dawclyn, right, during
a candlelight vigil at the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, La., Mon-
day. At Left is Dechia’s mother, Denna Badeaux.
Long stalked the area, searching, as
more 911 calls poured in and oficers
arrived.
Turning the front corner of the beauty
supply store, the gunman spotted his irst
marks: two Baton Rouge police oficers.
Without hesitation, Long shot both,
Gautreaux said, leaving one dead and
the second crawling toward the back of
store.
Garafola, taking cover behind a
dumpster at the store with his gun drawn,
tried to rescue his wounded fellow
oficer — only to run face-to-face into
Long. The shooter took aim at Garafola,
killing him in a hail of gunire. Video
shows bullets hitting the concrete around
him, Gautreaux said.
“My deputy went down ighting.
He returned ire until the very end,” the
sheriff said.
Long then noticed the wounded city
police oficer on the ground and took
two close-range shots, Gautreaux said.
With three oficers dead, another city
police oficer caught Long’s attention
as he rounded his way back behind the
beauty supply store. Long stopped,
turned and shot, wounding the oficer
before heading around back, jumping a
wall and running past the convenience
store and the car wash.
There, sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas
Tullier, 41, had returned to his police
car after getting the license plate from
Long’s rental vehicle.
Long ired directly into the car,
shooting Tullier in the head and
stomach, walking ever closer as he
pulled the trigger, Gautreaux said, before
exchanging gunire with Deputy Bruce
Simmons, 57.
Simmons went down with a shot to
the shoulder that required a titanium rod
to replace an arm bone shattered by the
gunman’s bullet. Tullier’s injuries were
even worse. He’s in critical condition,
a machine helping him to breathe,
“ighting for his life,” Gautreaux said.
Before Long could get any nearer, a
shot rang out from over a hundred years
away, as an oficer with the city police
SWAT unit took down the gunman with
the sort of textbook maneuver oficers
learn in their tactical training. Dabadie
called it “a helluva shot.”
Authorities say without that shot, they
believe Long would have continued the
killing spree, possibly driving a short
distance down the highway to the Baton
Rouge police headquarters.
“This guy was going to another
location. He was not going to stop here,”
Dabadie said pointing to a map laying
out the scene of the carnage. “After he
was inished here, I have no doubt he
was heading to our headquarters and he
was going to take more lives.”
Third oficer acquitted in Freddie Gray death
BALTIMORE (AP) — A
judge further hollowed out
the case against six police
oficers charged in the death
of a young black man, deliv-
ering a third consecutive
acquittal and ruling once
again that prosecutors failed
to prove oficers intention-
ally hurt Freddie Gray.
In acquitting Lt. Brian
Rice, the highest ranking
oficer charged, Baltimore
Circuit Judge Barry Williams
was unequivocal in his ruling
Monday. He told prosecutors
they failed to establish that
Rice was aware of his duty
to buckle Gray into a seat
belt, and more importantly,
that he deliberately breached
his duty in order to put Gray
in danger.
“There are a number of
possibilities this court could
entertain, some that are inno-
cent and some that are not,”
Williams said. “However,
the burden of proof rests
with the state, and the court’s
imaginings do not serve as a
substitute for evidence.”
Gray was arrested in
April 2015 when he ran
from police in a high-crime
area. He was handcuffed and
shackled but left unbuckled
in the back of a police van
and suffered a critical neck
injury. Gray’s name became
a rallying cry for the Black
Lives Matter movement,
fueling outrage nationwide
over the treatment of black
people by the criminal justice
system and prompting the
worst rioting in the city in
decades.
The U.S. Justice Depart-
ment launched a patterns and
practice investigation into
allegations of widespread
abuse and unlawful arrests
by the Baltimore Police
Department.
Rice was cleared of
manslaughter,
reckless
endangerment and miscon-
duct in ofice. Earlier this
year, oficers Edward Nero
and Caesar Goodson, the
van driver who was facing
a murder charge, were also
found not guilty. Oficer
William Porter’s trial ended
in a hung jury in December
and his retrial is scheduled
for September. The last
two oficers have trials this
Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun via AP
Baltimore Police Lt. Brian Rice, center, is escorted from
the courthouse to a waiting car after being found not
guilty on all charges related to the death of Freddy
Gray, Monday in Baltimore.
month and in October.
Gray died April 19, 2015,
a week after he suffered a
critical spinal injury in the
back of Goodson’s police
wagon. Prosecutors say the
oficers were criminally
negligent when they failed to
buckle Gray into a seat belt
or provide medical attention
after he indicated that he
wanted to go to a hospital.
With no courtroom victo-
ries, activists are focusing on
protests and police depart-
ment reforms. A protest
Saturday that blocked the
interstate through downtown
resulted in more than 60
arrests. Activists said they
were demonstrating in
support of having civilians
sit on boards that review
police misconduct cases, and
spending more public money
on community programs
instead of policing.
“I’m disgusted, as usual,
and they’re sending a daily
message all across the
world that our lives don’t
matter, and that’s sad,” said
Tawanda Jones outside the
courthouse Monday. She
was there marking the third
anniversary of her brother’s
death in a separate case
involving Baltimore police.
“We’re
more
than
hashtags and body bags,”
she added.
The Gray case hasn’t
it quite so neatly into the
narrative of white authorities
imposing unfair justice on
minorities.
Three of the oficers
charged are white and three
are black. The victim, judge,
top prosecutor and mayor
are African-American. At
the time of Gray’s death, so
was the police chief.
In his verdict, Williams
said the failure to seat belt
a detainee in a transport
wagon is not inherently a
crime.
“The state failed to show
that the defendant, even if
he was aware of the risk,
consciously disregarded that
risk,” the judge said.
Prosecutors and defense
attorneys are barred from
commenting due to a gag
order.
During the trial, prosecu-
tors had said Rice was most
responsible of the six ofi-
cers charged for following
police procedures to fasten a
prisoner in a seat belt, citing
his 18 years of experience on
Flowers • Candles • Jewelry
• Plants • Balloons & More!
Put a smile on the heart with the
power of flowers.
HWY 395, HERMISTON
541-567-4305
Mon-Sat 8am-6pm • Sun 12pm-5am
www.cottagefl owersonline.com
the force.
The oficer’s attorney said
police could use discretion,
if they believe their safety
is at risk. Rice attorney
Michael Belsky said oficers
had concerns because Gray
was not cooperative and they
weren’t sure what onlookers
would do if extra time was
taken to fasten Gray in the
van.
Prosecutors and defense
attorneys gave different
characterizations of the
onlookers.
Prosecutors
described them as concerned
observers, while Belsky said
oficers heard threatening
comments during the arrest.
By JULIE PACE
and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
CLEVELAND
—
After a harsh primary,
Republicans kicked off
Donald Trump’s general
election campaign with
a warm and personal
validation from his wife,
Melania Trump, who
emotionally assured GOP
convention delegates and
voters across the country
that the brash candidate
has the character and
determination to unite a
divided nation
“If you want someone
to ight for you and your
country, I can assure
you, he is the guy,” Mrs.
Trump told delegates in
her highest proile appear-
ance of the presidential
campaign.
Her husband made a
brief, but showy entrance,
into the convention hall to
introduce her, emerging
from
shadows
and
declaring, “We’re going
to win, we’re going to win
so big.” He returned to
the stage after his wife’s
remarks, greeting her
warmly with a kiss and
cheering her on along with
the crowd.
Mrs. Trump’s hopeful
remarks were a sharp
contrast to the night’s other
speakers, who painted a
bleak picture of a nation
gripped by insecurity. The
speeches were also illed
with harsh criticism of
Democrat Hillary Clinton,
with delegates chanting
“lock her up.”
The evening’s “Make
America Safe Again”
theme took on new
resonance
given
the
nation’s
unsettlingly
violent summer. A parade
of speakers told detailed
stories
about
deadly
combat missions and loved
ones killed at the hands of
people in the United States
illegally. And they cast the
turbulent times as a direct
result of weak leadership
by
President
Barack
Obama and Clinton, who
spent four years in the
administration.
“Who would trust
Hillary Clinton to protect
them? I wouldn’t,” Former
New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani said in one
of the night’s most iery
addresses.
Many of the party’s
past and future stars were
glaringly missing from
the lineup, underscoring
the concerns some GOP
leaders have with closely
aligning themselves with
Trump. The businessman
has cast aside decades of
Republican orthodoxy in
his unexpected political
rise, creating a crisis
within the GOP about its
future.
Republican divisions
erupted briely on the
convention loor Monday
afternoon after party
oficials adopted rules by
a shouted voice vote. Anti-
Trump forces seeking
to derail his nomination
responded with loud and
angry chants, though they
were quickly quieted and
there were no lingering
signs of the protests as
delegates returned to the
cavernous convention hall
for the evening program.
Trump hoped the chaos
would be little more
than a footnote. Despite
persistent party divisions,
his campaign is conident
Republicans will come
together behind their
shared disdain for Clinton.
Convention speakers
highlighted at length the
deadly 2012 attacks on
Americans in Benghazi,
Libya, while Clinton was
serving as secretary of
state. The mother of one
of the victims choked back
tears as she personally
blamed Clinton for her
son’s death and accused
her of giving a false expla-
nation for the attack.
“If Hillary Clinton
can’t give us the truth,
why should we give her
the presidency,” Pat Smith
said.
McKay Creek Estates
Celebrate Life
At Prestige Senior Living, we believe life should be a celebration! Studies have
shown that up to 70% of what you feel from aging, is optional. The key to
active, successful aging is your lifestyle. It is about wellness and nurturing body,
mind and spirit.
Join us for one of our complimentary educational seminars that promote
healthy, fulfilled living, at every age.
THURSDAY, JULY 21, 10:30 A.M. – 11:30 A.M.
Foot Care: Putting Your
Best Foot Forward
Presented by Dr. Terrol Marshall, Blue Mountain Foot Specialists
Are you tired of sore and achy feet? Learn tips and advice on how to care for
your most important mode of transportation, your feet! Dr. Marshal will discuss
proper foot care, toenail care, and general maintenance to keep your feet in
great condition.
Space is limited for this FUN educational series. For more information and to
reserve your seat please call (541) 276-1987.
McKay Creek Estates
1601 Southgate Place
Pendleton, Oregon 97801