President Obama condemned the shooting in Baton Rouge Sunday that claimed the lives of three police officers amid rising tensions between the black community and law enforcement agents.
“For the second time in two weeks, police officers who put their lives on the line for ours every day were doing their job when they were killed in a cowardly and reprehensible assault,” Obama said in a written statement. An ambush attack on police in Dallas left five officers dead when a lone shooter targeted law enforcement agents at a Black Lives Matter protest on July 7.
The president is set to give remarks on the Baton Rouge shooting at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Baton Rouge authorities have not yet revealed the motives behind the shooting, which reportedly involved three suspects. One was killed in an exchange with police. The shooting appears to have been an ambush, but it is also possible police were attacked when they came upon a crime scene.
Tensions in the Louisiana town have been rising since the recent death of Alton Sterling, a black man who was shot and killed by police while pinned to the ground in an altercation that was caught on video.
“We may not yet know the motives for this attack, but I want to be clear: There is no justification for violence against law enforcement. None,” Obama said. “These attacks are the work of cowards who speak for no one. They right no wrongs. They advance no causes.
The White House said Obama called Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden to learn more about the shooting and to offer his condolences.
