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Three police officers were killed, and more wounded, after being shot Sunday morning (July 17) in Baton Rouge, the city's mayor said.
Mayor Kip Holden said he was still gathering details on the total number of officers who were wounded by gunfire that erupted around 9 a.m. at Airline and Old Hammond highways. He was unable to provide any information on the gunman or gunmen.
Mark Clements, a resident in the area, said he had let his dogs out in the yard shortly after 8:30 a.m. when he heard roughly 10 to 12 gunshots. Later, he saw helicopters flying overhead.
The wounded officers are with the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, Holden said, and have been taken to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.
"It's like a nightmare all over again," Holden said.
The shooting comes in the midst of ongoing protests in Baton Rouge following the fatal officer-involved shooting of Alton Sterling, and nearly a week after five Dallas police officers were killed by sniper fire.
"The rhetoric now needs to be toned down to zero," Holden said. "This is not a Wild West town. This is a town of law and order."
Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a statement calling the shooting "an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing."
"Rest assured, every resource available to the State of Louisiana will be used to ensure the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice," the governor said.
Staff reporter Julia O'Donoghue contributed.