At least seven Baton Rouge police officers were shot and three killed in an “ambush” Sunday morning.
A witness told WBRZ News that they saw a man “dressed in black with his face covered shooting indiscriminately when he walked out between a convenience store and car wash across from Hammond Air Plaza.”
East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden told MSNBC that the officers were shot while responding to a call and were ambushed by one or two shooters. The shooting occurred near police headquarters at around 9 a.m. local time.
Law enforcement officials said that one suspect is dead and that two others are still at large.
News station WAFB released video showing police officers driving towards gunfire.
Breaking in Baton Rouge: WAFB airs video of police driving toward gunfire. 2 officers dead, several shot. pic.twitter.com/KTaV32HS6W
— Errol Barnett (@errolbarnett) July 17, 2016
The shooting comes in the wake of a tense several weeks in Baton Rouge. Sterling, 37, was killed outside of a convenience store in Baton Rouge on July 5. Officers were called to the scene after Sterling, who was black, reportedly flashed a gun at a homeless man. He was fatally shot by two white officers after being wrestled to the ground.
Sterling, who had a lengthy criminal history, had been involved in a similar situation with police in 2009.
Days after Sterling’s death — and that of Philando Castile in Minnesota — a radical black nationalist named Micah X. Johnson killed five police officers at a protest in Dallas.
Last week, three Baton Rouge teenagers were arrested and accused of plotting to kill Baton Rouge police officers.
This post has been updated with developing information.