Montrell Jackson was one of three police officers killed Sunday morning in a shooting in Baton Rouge, La., a cousin and family friend told The Baton Rouge Advocate.
{mosads}Jackson, 32, was one of several officers who responded to a report of a man armed with an assault rifle at around 8:45 a.m., when Gavin Long of Kansas City, Mo., shot and killed three officers before being killed by police.
Three more officers were wounded, one critically, in the latest act of violence to hit the city.
Baton Rouge was already tense following the death of Alton Sterling, a black man killed in a confrontation with police earlier this month, and several subsequent protests.
Two days later, at a related protest in Dallas, a black man shot and killed five police officers.
Soon after, Jackson posted about his experience as a police officer on Facebook, The Daily Best reported.
“I’ve experienced so much in my short life and the past 3 days have tested me to the core,” he wrote. “I swear to God I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me. In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat.
“Please don’t let hate infect your heart. This city MUST and WILL get better. I’m working in these streets so any protesters, officers, friends, family, or whoever, if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer I got you.”
Jackson was a 10-year veteran of the police force who was once injured trying to save a toddler from a house fire and recently became a father.
“He loved his job,” his friend Darnell Murdock told The Advocate.
“It motivated him to go out and change people’s lives. He was on [the force] to help people, to make you have a better day.”