‘CALCULATED ACT’
Police have declined to say what role race might have played in Sunday’s rampage, which killed two white officers and one black officer. Three more officers were wounded, one of them critically.
But Long, who was black, said in a series of social media messages posted in recent days, some from Dallas, that he was fed up with the mistreatment of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement, and praised the attack on Dallas police.
Legal papers filed in his home state of Missouri showed he was affiliated with Washitaw Nation, a black offshoot of the Sovereign Citizen movement, which challenges the legitimacy of the federal government.
Baton Rouge police said they believed that Long, armed with two rifles and a pistol, intended to go to their department’s headquarters a short distance away to take more lives.
Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Mike Edmonson said there was no doubt that the dead and wounded officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated.
Article Appeared @http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-police-idUSKCN0ZX0MX