On Tuesday, President Obama, visiting the flood ravaged city of Baon Ruge, Louisiana, met with family members of three police officers, Montrell Jackson, Matthew Gerald and East Baton Rouge sheriff’s Deputy Brad Garafola, who were killed on July 1y when they were ambushed by Gavin Long, who shot six officers before he was shot and killed by police. East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s Deputy Nick Tullier was still on life support into August.
Long apparently visited Dallas after the shootings on July 7 in which five police officers were murdered, then posted a YouTube video July 10 in which he asserted that victims of bullying needed to resort to brute force.
The meeting between Obama and the families at a firehouse near a Baton Rouge airport lasted 20 minutes.
Obama also met with the family of Alton Sterling, who was killed on July 5 after he was confronted by two police officers after someone called 911 to say that Sterling had brandished a gun, according to Baton Rouge police. The police reported that one officer shot Sterling after Sterling allegedly tried to reach a gun from his pocket.
On July 7, a mere two days after Sterling’s death, Obama issued a statement commenting on Sterling’s death and the death of Philando Castile, who was shot by police in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and ginned up his efforts to claim institutional racism exists, stating:
Although I am constrained in commenting on the particular facts of these cases, I am encouraged that the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation in Baton Rouge, and I have full confidence in their professionalism and their ability to conduct a thoughtful, thorough, and fair inquiry. But regardless of the outcome of such investigations, what’s clear is that these fatal shootings are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many of the communities they serve.
Obama has been widely criticized for waiting so long to travel to Baton Rouge; where thirteen people have died and more than 60,000 homes have been damaged from the flooding. John Bel Edwards, the state’s Democratic governor had said he wanted Obama to wait a few weeks before visiting because the entourage and Secret Service personnel accompanying presidential trips would have strained local resources while officials were dealing with the aftermath of the flooding.