President Obama Issues Statement on Shooting of Baton Rouge Police Officers

President Condemns ‘In the Strongest Sense of the Word’ Attack on Officers

President Barack Obama has just released a statement on the shooting in Baton Rouge which currently has left three police officers dead and several other officers injured. The attack is still believed to be unresolved.

Here, the full statement from the President:

 

THE WHITE HOUSE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 17, 2016

 

Statement by the President

 

I condemn, in the strongest sense of the word, the attack on law enforcement in Baton Rouge.  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.  These are attacks on public servants, on the rule of law, and on civilized society, and they have to stop. 

I’ve offered my full support, and the full support of the federal government, to Governor Edwards, Mayor Holden, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Baton Rouge Police Department.  And make no mistake – justice will be done.

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.  These attacks are the work of cowards who speak for no one.  They right no wrongs.  They advance no causes.  The officers in Baton Rouge; the officers in Dallas – they were our fellow Americans, part of our community, part of our country, with people who loved and needed them, and who need us now – all of us – to be at our best.

Today, on the Lord’s day, all of us stand united in prayer with the people of Baton Rouge, with the police officers who’ve been wounded, and with the grieving families of the fallen.  May God bless them all.

 

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UPDATES: 4:28 PM EDT –

Breaking: ‘No Active Shooter’ in Baton Rouge, Police Now Say After 3 Officers Shot, Killed

Watch Live: President Barack Obama to Speak on Shooting of Baton Rouge Police Officers