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Police: Baton Rouge Officers Were "Assassinated". Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 18, 2016 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SHERIFF SID GAUTREAUX, EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH, LOUISIANA: I'm here today to update you as far as the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office goes.

[15:30:02] As an agency and family, we're grieving the loss of Deputy Brad Garafola. We've been in constant contact with his family. He leaves behind a wife and four children. And though, they are hurting but I want them to know that we are here for them now and forever, they are our family. We're also getting our deputies assistance they need to cope with this tragedy.

We still have another deputy that is currently fighting for his life is Corporal Nick Tullier. He was shot in the head and the stomach and has extensive damage. He's currently in ICU and is on a machine helping him breathe. He's in very critical condition. We ask for your continued prayers for his healing and for his family.

And finally we have a deputy that has non-life threatening injuries but serious injuries, and that's Sergeant Bruce Simmons. He is going to a second surgery this evening. It will be one of many. The bone running from his elbow to his shoulder was completely shattered. He now has a titanium rod in his arm. He has other reconstructive surgeries ahead of him and we also ask for your continual prayers for healing with him as well.

I want to reiterate some of what Colonel Edmondson said. We watched the video and we watched the actions of our deputies and officers. They ran to the threat, not from the threat, in an attempt to protect and preserve life. They were ambushed by a man who was clearly targeting law enforcement.

Deputy Garafola died attempting to get a fallen Baton Rouge officer to render aid. Deputy Garafola died as a hero, protecting and serving, so did the other officers. I think it's important that we remember as we move forward, they are gone but they are not forgotten. We will be forever grateful for their service, the Baton Rouge City police SWAT team arrived quickly on the scene, as the colonel said, and they were able to take down the lone shooter, preventing injury or loss of life.

I want to say this. There's no doubt in my mind after watching those videos and seeing how this guy moved, how he operated, his proficiency and his determination, and I'm going go back to this. The first engagement as the this area here where he killed one Baton Rouge City officer and wounded a second here then he shoot the third Baton Rouge City officer here. That city officer got around the corner and was crawling this way.

They were out of sight of my deputy when the shooting started. He stayed behind the building. When the shooting started he ran to takeover behind the dumpster, but when he saw the officer lying there and clearly still alive he moved along the building and as the colonel said was moving down the building to get the officers to render aid. That's when the subject came from back around this side of the bidding and engaged my officer.

My deputy went down fighting. He returned fire to the very end. He was in a prone position returning fire. We could see in the video the bullets hitting the concrete around him. Once he knew he had taken that deputy out, he turned his attention back to the wounded officers, he turned around and shot him twice, then he moved back through here as the colonel said.

So we've had one city police officer injured here, two killed, one deputy killed. He moved back through this area and his car was parked generally here as the colonel said already the corporal got out of his unit, checked the license plate, had just gotten back in his unit when the guy came out, he started immediately firing into the car, all the time walking that way. His attention was drawn to a second deputy that was parked here and at which time he started firing in that direction. That was the other deputy who in the shoulder. He told me last night when it got hit it went numb. Nothing, no control.

I am convinced that if he would have continued in that direction and finished off this deputy and that deputy as he did to these other officers and deputies over here, I am convinced Baton Rouge City SWAT had not arrived on the scene we would have had two more deceased deputies, this guy would have been in a position get in his car and go on, travel, and seek other targets.

[15:35:20] But Baton Rouge City SWAT, you can't understand the shot that was taken here, in this area right here, they had to shoot through structure and they took the subject down right here.

The men and women responding to this scene yesterday are heroes. Just like the men and women that put on a uniform each morning and each night, they are everyday heroes, and I ask this community to continue to keep them and their families in your prayers and I ask this community to continue to pray for peace we will get through this. Baton Rouge is better than this.

Chief Dabadie?

CHIEF CARL DABADIE, BATON ROUGE POLICE CHIEF: Good afternoon. I stand here as a chief with a heavy heart, number one. This has been a whirlwind of, as colonel said, 30 hours that has been devastating to the Baton Rouge police department officers, and our families but also to the city of Baton Rouge.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the overwhelming 99.9 percent of this community who have supported, who have sent me messages, who officers messages, who have showed their support for the Baton Rouge police department, sheriff's office and our state police, for law enforcement in general here. It's completely overwhelming the amount of support that we've gotten.

I'm not going to get into the tactics here. I'm going to stand here as a chief and former instructor at the Academy of Tactics and just tell you how proud I am of our department, our training staff, our instructors, our SWAT team, they did exactly how they were trained. Without his station, without fear, but with courage, with methodical movement, they did exactly how they were trained.

They went to the fire. They didn't run. They didn't go the other direction. They didn't blow it off. I could not be more proud of these officers.

I could not be more proud of my SWAT team. We've been questioned for the last three or four weeks about our militarized tactics and our militarized law enforcement. This is why, because we are up against a force that is not playing by the rules. They haven't played by the rules. They didn't play by the rules in Dallas and they didn't play by the rules here.

This is why -- we don't ever want to use it. But we have to have the ability to use it when we needed it and we needed it here. As several have said, this guy was going to another location. He was not going to stop here. After he was finished here, I have no doubt he was heading to our headquarters and he was going to take more lives.

Our militarized tactics as they're being called saved lives here. Our SWAT team made was a hell of a shot but it had to be made. We had to neutralize the threat right there. We could not let it go any further.

One of the officers who ran to this fight, Matthew Gerald, 41 years old, served less than a year with the Baton Rouge Police Department. Matthew was a devoted husband and father of two. Before joining the Baton Rouge police department, let me tell you a little bit about Matthew.

Matthew served in the United States Marine Corps and served United States Marine and the United States Army. He was a Blackhawk crew member and served three tours in Iraq. He served his country proudly and with honor. He served -- his sense of service drew him to law enforcement when he got out of the military. He spent his whole life serving this country and our city and he's a hero for everything that he's done.

Corporal Montrell Jackson is 32 years old. He's a-10-year veteran. He worked in our uniform patrol division. Montrell and his wife have been together for a total of 10 years. Montrell's son turned four months old today. Montrell was a loving and devoted husband.

[15:40:02] As an academy director, I served as Montrell's instructor and for 20 weeks, I tested Montrell physically, mentally and emotionally every single day. Montrell stood tall everyday. He never wavered, he never quit. His heart was in service to this community.

A couple of days before this happened, I went down in third district and was talking to the guys trying to lift their spirits. Montrell ended up giving me a pep talk. As you heard as his post that he left on his Facebook page, his devotion was to the Baton Rouge City and to our apartment and he gave -- he ended up giving me the pep talk, I didn't give it to him and that was the last time that I spoke to Montrell and I'll never forget it.

He is a true hero. I have something from his wife Tarnisha (ph) who wanted me to share this with you today and I'll read what she said. "Montrell was my everything. He was an amazing husband, an outstanding father, a respectful son and a loving brother and an amazing uncle, a trustworthy godfather and a loyal friend. He loved his family and he loved his fellow officers. I know without a shadow of a doubt he loved his job and his city.

Knowing this is what gives me little peace and comfort. I know (AUDIO GAP) and paid the ultimate price in doing what he loved, protecting and serving a city that he loved."

Thank you.

WALTER GREEN, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA: Good afternoon. I'm Walt Green, U.S. attorney.

First we continue to keep the law enforcement victims and their families in our prayers on a daily basis. We stand here together committed a team of federal, state, and local law enforcement to investigate this horrific tragedy that was committed in our community. And I say again it was our community.

We are coordinating with federal authorities to include U.S. attorneys offices, FBI and ATF and other districts, as well as other officials in the Department of Justice to investigate this matter. In Baton Rouge, U.S. attorney's office Federal Bureau of Investigation, ATF, United States Marshal Service and the DEA continues to provide assistance in this investigation.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch is being made aware of every step of this investigation and continues to monitor this situation very closely.

Yesterday, as I said, we will continue to investigate this matter and continue to devote all needed federal law enforcement resources until justice has been served. And as the governor said, no stone will be left uncovered in this investigation.

We thank all of our law enforcement partners here today and the ones not here on the podium, as well as the mayor and governor in attendance for their cooperation and team work in investigating this case. I say to all law enforcement, you have our deepest sympathies while dealing with this horrific tragedy. Now I would ask FBI Jeff Sallet to give some additional comment.

JEFFREY SALLET, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Good afternoon. First, on behalf of the men and women of the FBI, I want to extend our deepest condolences and prayers to the men and women of the Baton Rouge City Police Department and East Baton Rouge sheriff's office.

As has been said up here numerous times, these men and women are heroes. Something that comes to my mind is the first responders' motto during 9/11, "They called, we responded." Think about that. Human instinct is do run away. They ran into the fight to protect us.

I am personally as a law enforcement officer and a citizen of this country in awe of the men and women of this department and the strength of the men and women of this department. With our partners from local, state and federal agencies, we will leave no stone unturned as what has been set up here before. We are committing all resources to identify co-conspirators or facilitators, bring them to justice and most importantly and in parallel to bringing justice, keep the safety of our community.

At the core of American values is unity. As toddlers, we learn the Pledge of Allegiance.

[15:45:01] I'm going to quote seven words from the pledge. "One nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

Standing up here before you is a unified team. Baton Rouge, unified. Louisiana, unified. America, unified. This will only make us stronger. We will work tirelessly to ensure safety in this community and throughout the nation a please every day when you see a local or state police officer, thank them. They're the ones that are keeping you all and me and our families safe.

I want to thank Governor Edwards and the mayor for your leadership. Governor Edwards has been an incredible leader in this state and for the country throughout the past two weeks with the events that have been occurring in the state of Louisiana, and thank you for your partnership and your commitment. Thank you.

COL. MICHAEL EDMONSON SUPERINTENDENT, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: We're going to have time for a few questions for either myself, the chief, the sheriff or Governor Edwards.

REPORTER: Colonel Edmondson, our heart felt condolences to all of you. I'm from (INAUDIBLE) Fox 4 News in Dallas. We just went through this very similar scenario and it was hauntingly familiar to the scene that you just described and I want to let you know think that my organization has confirmed that Gavin Long was in Dallas recently trying to recruit, sell his book.

Are you guys aware of that?

EDMONSON: Well, we know he's in several locations, as we work backwards from 8:40 yesterday morning we were looking at the footprint of that call, where has he been, where did he travel to, who did he contact? Who did he talk to along the way?

Any cell phone information we can extract and work on that we're diligently doing because it's important to look at the timeline that got him to yesterday morning and why. Why did he come to Baton Rouge? Why did he pick Baton Rouge? Why did he pick that location right there and why did he kill police officers? That's what's important to us. So, we'll get to that.

Yes, sir? Right here.

REPORTER: Can you and the sheriff do something for me with this map? I'm Steve Osunsami (ph) with ABC News. Can you tell us where the officers were and their names if you can on the map?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll do that after.

REPORTER: My other question is, it looked like he was moving -- he was running or did he have a car? How did he get from this location down here --

EDMONSON: He ran. By car back over here and he ran. He was in shape, clearly, he was in shape. Clearly he was concentrating on exactly what he was trying to do. He was articulate in all manners of engagement, I'll just leave it at that. I think when you saw as he was going into, he was articulate in each one of that.

Yes, sir?

REPORTER: Have you ruled out the possibility that it was in retaliation for what we saw here in Baton Rouge with Alton Sterling?

EDMONSON: Well, we certainly haven't ruled out anything. But there's nothing to believe at this point that we can say it has something to do with that. Clearly, the landscape has changed since Dallas. I think y'all have seen that. As a country, you've seen that. So, no --

REPORTER: Two questions (INAUDIBLE) can you confirm that Gavin Long was in Texas in the days before he came to Louisiana? And, secondly --

EDMONSON: I cannot confirm that at this time, no, sir.

REPORTER: Can you confirm that his twitter handle was Cosmos?

EDMONSON: We're hearing the same things you are. We want to apply (ph) with facts. So, we are not prepared to factually say that.

(CROSSTALK)

EDMONSON: As we look back from 8:40 yesterday morning, that is what our investigators are trying to do. Interview those individuals that we believe and know he came in contact with. Why did he pick this location? Was it because police officers frequent this location on a morning getting coffee, getting their car washed? We want to know those same answers that you have to the questions.

Yes, sir?

REPORTER: Colonel Edmonson, Ted Williams from FOX News. Have you been able to trace these guns at this stage of the investigation?

EDMONSON: We're in the process of doing that. We're working closely with ATF. The guns are at a crime lab. From a DNA standpoint, from a forensic standpoint, from a ballistics standpoint, we're putting all those pieces together.

REPORTER: Do you know how long the gunman was in Baton Rouge? Do you know if he attended the Alton Sterling protests? Can you give us a length of time he was here?

EDMONSON: We believe he was here for several days. That's what our timeline is telling us. We don't want to go into more than that because of the fact this that there's some individuals we're trying to interview but we believe he was here several days.

[15:50:04] Yes, sir?

REPORTER: As far as the officer in the IC Unit, can you tell us what is his prognosis?

GAUTREAUX: I talked to both surgeons that worked on him. One of the surgeons is a personal friend of mine. He has operated on me in the past.

Their biggest concern is the head trauma. And his prognosis, he is in very, very critical condition. It's been touch and good for the family. He's been in and out, so to speak. His vitals have gone up and down. And that's all I can say at this point.

As I said earlier, we're just praying for him. It's in God's hands and we just have to see what happens. But he's not in good shape at all.

REPORTER: Sheriff, tell us about the officers that you're bringing in to kind of fill the ranks right now?

GAUTREAUX: What we did, we did two things. One thing, we activated Louisiana Sheriff's Association Statewide Emergency Task Force. We have deputies coming from all over the state to fill in, to spell our people. Not just us but as well as Baton Rouge City. Louisiana Associations of Chiefs of Police has a similar task force and they are doing the same thing.

So, all of this relief effort is being coordinated through the state police and we're having deputies at this particular time and officers that are coming in to supplement both of our departments and patrol function, so we can get these people rest.

Some of these deputies and officers have been working for 12 days straight, you know? And I mean, it is very stressful, you know. Everybody's been feeling stress since -- you know, through the protests, through now. And it is an emotional drain on us as well as a physical drain.

So, we are making sure that we don't have people completely wear out. That can make good decisions and are ready to serve the public.

REPORTER: Can you talk about the ideology? What kind of groups that Mr. Long was involved with, or anything like that?

EDMONSON: We're exhausting all areas within social media. We know there's a gamut of information that's out there. We are looking at each one of those individually, before -- but until we can apply fact to it. Before we make it a specific part of the puzzle or piece of the puzzle, we're not going on information.

Please rest assured that everything you're talking about, the questions we're getting, we are looking at every single one of those on a constant basis.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

EDMONSON: We do know this much. We do know that person that killed those police officers and the person that was killed by the Baton Rouge Police Department is this gentleman right here. That's what we do know.

Whether or not he had any other help on this particular location, in that particular car at that time -- no. But outside of that, that is all part of the investigation we're trying to tie in together.

REPORTER: When did he rent the car? Who took the shot?

EDMONSON: That's going to be part of that time line as we go forward. To tell us exactly that. But the SWAT -- are you talking about who took the shot killed him? The Baton Rouge police officer SWAT.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)]

EDMONSON: We don't have the time line. I want to be accurate when I do give you that statement.

REPORTER: Speaking of timeline, the person on 911 (INAUDIBLE) there multiple were 911 calls? Did the suspect make the call himself?

EDMONSON: No indication the subject made the call himself. Calls came in from the public.

I think you saw that. This is public all in this area. They were going to that store at that time. They were there. He completely dismissed them. He walked by them. They actually saw him. That was the phone calls that you came in, dude on Airline Highway carrying a rifle.

REPORTER: So, that first 911 call came in the middle. He was already moving around police officers before the --

EDMONSON: Within that timeframe.

REPORTER: So, he'd already -- I think you said he identified -- if you can show us on the map, where it first started and when the first call was made.

EDMONSON: Let me say this. The chief is not ready to honor that request. He is not ready to identify where the police officer was. We will let the sheriff identify where his deputies were, please.

REPORTER: (IANUDIBLE) person who he went to, I'm curious if you can give us the name of that deputy. I don't know if that's possible. The deputy he ran to. He put himself in danger --

GAUTREAUX: Which scenario? The first engagement or second?

REPORTER: Let's start with the first engagement. Where the first engagement was before the 911 call happened. Second question is, one of your deputies put themselves in further harm's way to help another officer. I would like that name. I think Garafola.

GAUTREAUX: Let me answer both.

When the suspect vehicle pulled up here, the Baton Rouge City unit here, officer had gotten out and went inside. When the suspect vehicle parked here, and the suspect was walking down the side of this building with this gun, there were other people walking around here totally ignored him, like they weren't even there.

He walked up half way here to the police vehicle, was looking inside of it, like he was looking for somebody to shoot. He didn't see them. He nonchalantly walked back.

This time, people had noticed him. I'm speculating as we are, I don't know the exact time line, that someone at that time called 911. Because by the time he got in his car and went around, that's when we started having responding units.

There was one responding unit that came here. That's Deputy Tullier.

To answer your question about the deputies, this was Deputy Brad behind the building here was Deputy Brad Garafola, he is the deceased deputy.

This is the shot. When he first heard the gunfire break out, he came here behind a dumpster, and took cover. And he saw this battery city officer come around and collapsed in an attempt to crawl in his direction. That's when he went here and started in the direction of the officer when the subject came around here and opened fire on the deputy and killed him. Then right after he did that, he saw that the battery police officer still alive and he fired two more shots into him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last question.

REPORTER: Governor, you -- you come from a law enforcement family. I saw tears in your eyes when the chief was describing his last encounter with the officers. Tell us a little bit about how this hits home to you.

GOV. JOHN BEL EDEWARDS (D), LOUISIANA: Well, it hits home to all of us. And I don't know that it's good or bad for our governor to cry, but I do on occasion. Especially like this.

As you mentioned, Sue, I do come from a law enforcement family. My sheriff happens to be my brother. I've got another brother who is chief of police of the town of Independence here in Louisiana. My father, my grandfather, my great grandfather, all sheriffs of (INAUDIBLE) parishes as well.

But this community is grief stricken whether or not they were related to law enforcement. But for those who were direct family members with whom I visited yesterday at the hospital, I will just tell you that the -- that experience was profound.

And I contrast that the innate goodness of those officers and those families with the evil of this shooter. Having seen the video last night of how this shooter conducted his attack on these officers, and I tell you, it is -- it is unsettling and it is emotional for me.

But I remain convinced that the Baton Rouge community and state of Louisiana is going to come together as a result of this. I already see that that's happening. We are better than this.

And I'm going to say this and we are going to wrap it up. I want everyone to know around the country, for six days prior to this incident yesterday morning, there had not even been an arrest in Baton Rouge related to the unrest that followed immediately on the heels of the Alton Sterling shooting. Not even an arrest. And none of the arrests that were effectuated even happened because of a significant act of violence. That did not happen in Baton Rouge.

Until this individual, from out of state, came here and yesterday engaged in this just horrific act of violence directed towards our law enforcement community. And so, it's obviously very troubling for me. It's an emotional time for everybody.

But we are going to get through this. We're going to be more united than ever. And we stand behind our law enforcement. Thank all of you.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. To better part of the last hour, you have been listening to multiple layers of law enforcement there in Baton Rouge, and you'll be hearing from a number of different law enforcement analysts here.

We're sitting with Art Roderick.

In the final seconds I have with you, he was saying that is the most extraordinary, most emotional and raw conferences you have heard from law enforcement. Twenty seconds.