Marine kills 3 policemen in Baton Rouge

A decorated former US Marine sergeant has opened fire on police in Baton Rouge, killing three officers.

It came nearly two weeks after the fatal police shooting of a black man there sparked nationwide protests, including one shattered by the massacre of five Dallas policemen.
The suspect, dressed in black and armed with a rifle, was shot to death minutes later in a gunfight with police who converged on the scene of a confrontation that Mayor Kip Holden said began as an "ambush-style" attack on officers.
Two Baton Rouge Police Department officers and one sheriff's deputy were killed, and one sheriff's deputy was critically wounded. Another police officer and one other deputy suffered less severe wounds and are expected to survive.
Colonel Mike Edmonson, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, told a news conference the gunman was believed to have acted alone.
It was not immediately clear whether there was a link between Sunday's bloodshed and unrest over the police killings of two black men under questionable circumstances earlier this month - Alton Sterling, 37, in Baton Rouge on July 5, and Philando Castile, 32, near St Paul, Minnesota, on July 6.
Police did not name the suspect but a US government official told Reuters the gunman had been identified as Gavin Long, of Kansas City, Missouri, and was black. He was reported by other media to be 29 years old.
According to Long's military record, released by the Pentagon, he served in the Marines from August 2005 until August 2010, achieving the rank of sergeant. Listed as a data network specialist for the Marines, he was deployed to Iraq from June 2008 until January 2009, earning several medals and commendations.
A second government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators had reason to believe an emergency 911 call may have been used to lure police.
Edmonson said several officers came under fire as police were responding to a report of a man dressed in black standing behind a store holding a rifle shortly before 9 am.
President Barack Obama has condemned the attack and vowed that justice will be done and called on Americans to focus on rhetoric and actions that united the country rather than divided it.
The wave of violence has heightened security concerns across the country, notably in Cleveland and Philadelphia, hosts to this week's Republican National Convention and next week's Democratic National Convention, respectively, which are expected to formally nominate Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for the November 8 election.
In a Facebook posting on Sunday afternoon Trump said, "We demand law and order".

Originally published as Marine kills 3 policemen in Baton Rouge