A new dad and a former Marine have been identified as two of the cops killed by a gun-toting madman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday.
Montrell Jackson, 32, was a 10-year-veteran of the Baton Rouge Police Department and had a 4-month-old son, friends said.
“He loved his job,” Darnell Murdock, one of Jackson’s friends, told The Advocate. “It motivated him to go out and change people’s lives. He was humble, kind and sweet.”
Jackson appears in heartwarming photos on his Facebook page.
Two days after Alton Sterling was shot dead by cops in Baton Rouge, sparking national outrage, Jackson shared a post saying he was “physically and emotionally” tired.
“I swear to god I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me,” he wrote. “In uniform I get nasty hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. I’ve experienced so much in my short life and these past three days have tested me to my core.
“I personally want to send prayers out to everyone directly affected by this tragedy,” he continued. “These are trying times. Please don’t let hate infect your heart. This city MUST and WILL get better.
“If you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer. I got you,” he said.
Jackson’s distraught uncle, Charles Cavalier, told WAFB reporters, “Baton Rouge lost a great man.”
“If he had to die, at least he died doing what he loved to do,” Cavalier continued. “That’s the good part about it. So, it’s sad on the family, but through God’s will, we’ll make it.”
Rookie Matthew Gerald, 41, has been named as the second dead officer by WAFB. A former Marine and Black Hawk crew chief in the Army, Gerald joined the Baton Rouge Police Department in March.
The masked gunman, shot dead at the scene, has been identified as Gavin Eugene Long of Kansas City, Missouri.