State police: Baton Rouge gunman ambushed officers

The Baton Rouge, La., gunman suspected of killing three police officers Sunday is believed to have been “targeting” law enforcement and ambushed his victims, the state police said Monday.

“We do believe he was targeting officers, and he definitely did ambush these officers that he shot,” Lt. J.B. Slaton, a Louisiana State Police spokesman, said Monday morning, according to The Washington Post.

{mosads}Authorities are still working to determine why the gunman, identified as Gavin Long, carried out the attack.

“We’re trying to figure out his motive, we’re trying to figure out why he would commit this heinous crime,” Slaton said.

The Baton Rouge shooting Sunday morning left three police officers dead and three more wounded in a city already reeling from the death of an African-American man killed by police earlier this month.

Officers Brad Garafola, Montrell Jackson and Matthew Gerald were shot and killed when they responded to a report of a man armed with an assault rifle. 

Long was shot and killed at the scene.

Slaton said police believe Long acted alone, but they are continuing to investigate the shooting. He also said none of the 911 calls that came in Sunday about a man with a gun appeared to have been made by Long.