thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week, i will see you next week. good morning from cleveland. i'm brian stelter, and this is "reliable sources." we begin, we start this morning with breaking news from baton rouge, louisiana. three police officers are feared dead after a shooting there. there are reports of multiple officers down, we don't know if that means they are dead or injured or both. the mayor of east baton rouge say police are investigating. right now we're trying to get

our arms around everything. it's just been one thing after another. we're going to focus on what is happening there right now. because there are a variety of reports that we have to confirm. information and images are scattered so we'll bring you it as we get it. let me get on the phone with law enforcement analyst harry haupe. we have been here all too often, talking nine days ago about the ambush in dallas. now there is a serious shooting in baton rouge. there's sporadic reports of a shoot-out between a suspect and the police, and we know there are multiple officers down, we don't know their condition. when you hear this news once again, what is your initial reaction, knowing how other officers all across the country when they hear this news right now? >> i tell you, it's heart

breaking to see police officers having to go through this again in another city. the fact is that there is a war on the police. and it has started and the fact is that we have a narrative out there that is -- that helps promote this type of things from occurring. you know, we had the shooting with sterling in baton rouge, we don't know the circumstances. that investigation has not ended yet. that suspect was armed and still apparently there are a lot of people that think what the police officers did there was criminal. and that narrative out there makes people like this man who shot these three police officers very, very mad, even though it is a false narrative, and we have police officers that are being attacked because of that. >> we are seeing many protesters in baton rouge and other cities,

pea peacefully protesting what they see as police brutality, we have seen that in recent days and recent weeks, many of these, most of these, the vast majority of protesters would condemn any act of violence against police officers, so when you say a war on cops, can you explain specifically what you mean by that? >> i'm not talking about peaceful protesters, brian. i'm talking about the people who are attacking police officers, i'm talking about the narrative that's out by politicians towards police officers. i'm talking about people that when they're stopped by police, they believe they can do whatever they want, and they do not have to comply. that's all a result of a false narrative. i was just reading a story about a kid where they wanted to issue a summons to and he was driving on his bicycle on the sidewalk

and they asked for identification, and he said i'm not giving you identification, i don't have to. there's a false narrative out there that says that they do not have to give identification to the police when asked for it. we're seeing a lot of criminal types out here who have such hatred for the police officers out there as a result of that false narrative, that police officers are starting to die in the street in numbers we have never seen them before. >> by some accounts, by other accounts, data indicates that the number of officers killed in the line of zduty has declined n recent years. i want to ask you, by the way, let me just explain why we're showing viewers a map of baton rouge. we don't have pictures from the scene yet, but we hope to get them shortly. as you can imagine, local affiliates are hurrying to get to the scene, as are local authorities. we are seeing pictures of state

police s.w.a.t. arriving on the scene, what we don't know is if this is still an active shooting between the gunman and the police officers. what we do know, is according to local authorities on the scene, and according to one of the baton rouge spokes people, multiple officers were shot in this situation. we're waiting on further information about whether that means there are injured officers or whether flothere are overs w have been deceased as a result of this. there are if you can tell me what happened at a gut wrenching moment like this, when you have a scene of a shooting that we know involves at least multiple officers, what has to happen in order to obtain more information and in order to secure the scene? >> what occurs first is the officers have got to coordinate and make sure that the area where the perpetrator is

cordoned off. this way the perpetrator cannot escape from the area. and they are probably doing a door to door or a house to house search in that area where the shooter was last seen. there's dozens of things going on at the same time, they're going to be talking to people also in that area. but the biggest thing, they want to make sure that other people that are out on the street are in a safe location. the officer is not only going to protect themselves, but they're going to protect the area where the shooter is. that's very important. you get the police officers that are wounded out of there to the hospital as soon as possible. they probably took the police officers in a radio car, they're not going to wait for an ambulance. most officers will transport an officer that has been shot in a radio car to the hospital. that's the fastest way to get there and the fastest way to keep that police officer alive.

we don't know what kind of weapon this guy used against police officers, so there's a s.w.a.t. team there, to make sure that this man does not get away. >> at this time we have no indication that there is more than one gunman, sometimes in these situations, there's reports of multiple shooters, we have not heard anything about that. there are reports of a single gunman and we don't know if that man is still shooting or not. is this essentially an all hands bulletin to bring every officer in? we're seeing louisiana state university police officers all moving into the scene. >> i'm sure neighboring police departments are going to come and help the officers, if they're the police departments outside of baton rouge, other police departments are saying, hey, you need any help. i'm sure the state police is responding and maybe there's even been a call to the fbi that

says if you need any help, we'll be there in a heart beat. that's what usually goes on here. but baton rouge police department is a pretty good police department, they have got a lot of cops there, i'm sure they'll take any kind of help that anybody offers them. >> please stay with us as this information unfolds, as i mentioned earlier, we're limited about the information that we're receiving and also pictures from the scene. officers are moving toward the situation here as well as many, many police officers and other authorities. a quick break here. we'll gather more information on this situation in baton rouge and we'll be right back. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla (apremilast).

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it's good to be in, good hands. the worst possible kind of story to report this morning, multiple officers shot in baton rouge, louisiana. we do not know how many officers were hit, we do not know if any were killed or woumgded. we're going to dip into this local affiliate, this is wafb, let's listen to their reporting. >> most of it happened in the back of that. let's take a listen to what one viewer saw.

>> we're seeing pretty raw eyewitness video from the scene this morning, not clear exactly how many minutes ago that was taken. but this appears to be the initial emergency response. we're told this happened relatively close by to the baton rouge police department headquarters. as you may recall, there was a recent threat against officers there, there were people taken into custody in that situation. in this case, we can see police officers here and cars and lights and sirens, but as we dip in and out of local news there, harry, it was nine, ten days ago that the ambush occurred in

dallas, five police officers killed and others wounded in that encounter. that was by some historical measures some of the worst attacks against law enforcement in many, many years, we do not want to get ahead of the local reporting in louisiana. but when you hear multiple officers shot in this situation in baton rouge, can you tell us what would be happening right now with that police department and with other authorities that would be swarming the scene? >> well, you know, another thing that police departments in the area and all around, is it's going to be a larger conspiracy to attack police officers. if the police are doing everything they can to track down this shooter, like i said, that whole area is probably cordoned off, probably i would say within a square mile. i don't know if they're still confronting the shooter or not, i don't know if they have a hostage situation going on right now. so, you know, things are still

pretty sketchy, but i tell you, brian, what i have been noticing and looking at statistics, in the last couple of years, these shootings have not breached a new plateau. but what we are seeing is that police ambushes are up considerably from the past years. i mean we're looking at this year now that we're going to bypass the amount of police officers that were shot in the line of duty since last year. so the reports for 2014, and there were 11 ambushes on police officers in 2014. i don't know the circumstances surrounding this shooting here, but it sure looks to me if multiple police officers were shot, we're talking about an ambush here. >> we're talking certainly was this an ambush style attack

here. art, this may be a dumb question, but do you have any further information besides what we're sharing from your sources? actually let me work on getting art reconnected with us. stand by on that. just to explain to viewers what you're seeing on the screen here, this is what we're gotting from baton rouge, this is a situation that's developing relatively early on a sunday morning in louisiana, in some ways very different from the sickening situation in dallas, where there were many camera crews as well as peaceful p protefpr protesters on the scene. we don't know what time this situation started, but there are reports that multiple officers are down, there are conflicting results about how many officers are dead or how many officers are injured. presumably that information is being assessed on the scene. a local station is showing some amateur eyewitness video of at least the early moments after

this shooting. there were also reports from, i believe we have the mayor actually joining us on the phone, let me see if we can dip into that. this is from the affiliate -- >> i tell you what. right now hopefully, because we are now trying to make sure that we're getting more and more officers, but the thing is right here, this is a very dangerous job. i mean, i cannot even tell you the magnitude, except for public information for city police and also being mayor for 12 years, you're seeing it from a totally different perspective. when they kiss their daughters and sons and wives bye, the bottom line is those families are not sure whether those police officers are going to come back to the door. but we're showing a -- instead of drawing a line in the sand. right now, there's a call to everybody.

regardless of how you may feel, there's still a poor city and a great place that we live in, don't let it be defined by what happened today or what happened last week, or anything of that magnitude, it is a urgent call for us to come together. >> what can you tell us on the officers' conditions? do we have anything more on maybe the officers that have passed away? >> no, sir, they have not confirmed, there are three they are describing as very seriously ill, so that's what i'm waiting on now is a confirmation from city police, but i can tell you it's a very, very fluid situation as we speak. >> sure. three feared dead from mayor kip holden. anything else that you wanted to add? i know that you're very busy.

>> greg, let me thank you all, but there has to be a community dialogue here, not with bitterness, but saying, look, there have been some things that have happen in the our community, but my god, look how far we have come over the last decade plus. and we're going to have to find these granules of success. they're not lost. take the things that we have done to build this into the city that it is. and move forward, talk, have conversations, have dialogue, but don't go into a shell and not express yourself about things that you think need to happen in order for this city to continue to move forward. >> mayor kip hold on. >> local coverage with the local news in baton rouge. speaking with the mayor about these police officers shot in baton rouge, it happened in the old hammond neighborhood. this eyewitness appears to show some shooting happening earlier this morning.

we do know there was a shoot-out, at least at one point between this gunman and between officers, as the mayor just told the local station there, there are three officers feared dead, that was one of the earlier reports last hour from local affiliates and local news organizations in louisiana. but the exact numbers are unknown. we hope to get that information shortly and we are working on that urgently. let me be on the phone with cedric alexander, law enforcement analyst. cedric, we want to hear your reacti reactions, i'm sitting here and i can feel my heart breaking over this situation. the whole nation's news media is focused on the republican national convention. and once again we're seeing officers stricken in the line of fire in louisiana in this case.

>> this is very, very saddening and very, very -- we need to pray at this very moment that all these officers are okay, but we're going to have to wait until all the information evolves. but this is a very difficult time for americans in this country and we really have to figure out how we're going to get to a place where we're going to resolve some of these angry feelings, for these police officers to come under attack the way they did, is shameful, there's no excuse for it. but very early on in this, for me, this is very, very painful and i'm quite sure it is for the whole law enforcement community across this country, that are listening and particularly in a time when we have an american presidential convention that is going on. i think we all need to step back for a moment, catch our breath, say a prayer for those officers that they're all okay, and we're just going to wait and see what new information emerges in all

of this, but as americans, we got to step back now, we got to come together, we truly got to come together, at this very moment, not tomorrow, but right now at this very moment. this is really very heart kbreek breaking for all of us to hear right now. >> we're on the air saying that local authorities fear three police officers are dead and unfortunately, cedric, i have to read the following from cnn's don lemon, a source close to the investigation telling lemon that seven officers have been shot and at least three ovfficers ar dead. the source telling don lemon that at least three officers have been killed in this attack. this is not confirmed by local authorities at a press conference or an on the record fashion. let me read the rest of what don is sharing with us from his source. police received a call that there was a suspicious person walking down airline highway with an assault rifle.

this is according to the source with knowledge of this situation. upon police arriving on scene, the man opened fire. there are remaining officers in critical condition, this source telling don lemon. the investigation has been turned over to the state police, and that this is still an active scene. when we say an active scene, we're not sure what that means, there are mixed reports about whether the gunman is still able to fire, whether he is dead or alive, we don't know that for sure. but at least one point, there was a chuteoshoot-out between t officers and the gunmen. we know that three officers are reported dead according to this source and that four others were shot. a source close to the investigation speaking to don

lemon. this all began a couple of hours ago in baton rouge, louisiana, we're told during the 9:00 a.m. hour there. unfortunately, an hour where many in baton rouge were just heading to church in the morning. let's go back to cedric alexander who's trying to make sense of the senseless. can you tell us what may be happening in louisiana right now. now that a couple of hours have passed and these officers have been taken to hospitals. what happened be happening there? >> i can only imagine this is still very early in the investigation, we need to wait and see the number of injuries that are involved, this is a senseless attack on police. i'm here in washington, d.c. at a national organization of black law enforcement executives convention, and the news is just

resonating across this hotel. every law enforcement person here is just totally outraged and on top of that, there are law enforcement officials here from the state of louisiana who just got word of this and i'm quite sure will be headed back to their jurisdictions there. but this is a very, very saddening event. but this is still a very early investigation and as the day goes by, we will learn more, but i just ask that everyone out there pry for those officers who were senselessly it appears were gunned down, which is not acceptable under any conditions. this is shameful, heart breaking and not what's supposed to happen. and we got to stand up against this because we cannot allow our law enforcement officers to come under attack, because an attack on law enforcement is an attack on our entire country, it's an

attack on that community. because the men and women who were responding were there to help others from getting injured and it appears that they may have been severely injured and may have even lost their lives and this is very hurtful to all of us who are americans in this country, it's just painful. >> stay with us for one moment, i just want to explain to the viewers what happens happening here. this is early information from a source with knowledge of the investigation, the shooting in baton rouge, louisiana, the source says at least three officers are dead, seven shot and that at least some of those shot are in critical condition. we see eye witness video here of officers running toward the scene. we know that right now, according to local reporters who are there, there are helicopters overhead, there are state troopers, dep luty sheriffs the,

even louisiana state police officers there. we're do not know about the status of the gunman, whether he is alive or dead. but cedric, any other questions that come to your mind? the first thing that you want to know as an officer, the first thing you need to know in a situation like this? >> the first thing i need to do is care for those injured overs. i need to determine if they're okay, getting them where they need to be. we need to secure public, what is going to be a huge and massive crime scene, but i need to care for those officers and any other civilians that may have been injured by gun fire. that's first and foremost. secondarily to that will be securing that scene. and there's much that we do not know, is the gunman still moving or have the gunman's actions been neutralized? but first we're going to make sure that all the officers are

accounted for and they're getting the medical attention that they need, as well as the civilians that may have been injured as well. >> mr. alexander, please stay with me, i want to bring in art roderick, our cnn law enforcement analyst, we have just shared this information from cnn's don lemon, from a source that say three officers have been killed and others wounded in this situation. when you try to process this, when you see these pictures, this eyewitness video, what is it that you want to know, beyond what cedric was just describing, what are the key questions? >> first they need to accomplish the scene and the perimeter, we don't know if the shooter is still active, was this a sniper situation, or was this a handgun, it seems to me that with so many officers down it could have been a sniper situation like we saw in dallas. this is horrible, this is an attack on the rule of law in

this country, this has got to stop, this is unbelievable. if this is confirmed here, that's eight officers shot and killed. >> this is early information, we can pray that this is not the case, but this is early information from a source. >> and i do know also that law enforcement is rolling out, i got worth earlier, of course you continue get in touch with anybody down there, because they're all responsibilitying to the scene, but i know the u.s. gulf coast law enforcement task force ask made up of state, local and federal officers so they're on their way out to the scene to secure it. >> is it better to have this gunman alive, or is it better to have this gunman dead? >> it's better obviously to take somebody live, we want to know what is his reasons for doing this. but if they have do take him out, they'll take him out at this point. of course as whie know, the

information coming in at this point is exaggerated, but hopefully it's not going to turn out the way it's being reported right now. >> this is early information, but to tell you the truth, what we're seeing now from this source, is what local reporters from the scene were saying half an hour ago, this is the worst, worst-case scenario. >> and we know there's been threats against officers since the shooting in dallas. >> a number of people were arrested and they were charged, not specifically -- well, can you remind us of that situation? >> actually what happened with the shooting of two law enforcement officers outside of the convenience there, the next day after that incident, there was a pawnshop robbed and webs were stolen. the next day officers made oars. they were all relatively young men, i think the oldest one was 17, there was one 13-year-old.

and i talked to law enforcement officials down there after this arrest and they didn't think it was that organized, that this particular gang that had robbed this pawnbroker place and took the weapons was not an organized group. this sounds to me, if this turns out to be true, we have got something very organized going on down in baton rouge and everybody's got to be put on alert, you know, obviously we have the incident up in minneapolis and i know law enforcement is going to be on their toes. >> let's tell viewers about that as well, that there was a shooting of an officer overnight in minneapolis? >> unfortunately, we don't know if this is copy cat information, we're trying to sort through all of this, unfortunately, it's coming so hot and heavy at this point it's difficult to get information out. but i would. be surprised if the fbi puts outs some sort of national alert if this turns out to be true. >> this is sickening, we are hear that three have been killed in this shooting, according to a

source with knowledge of the investigation. authorities in baton rouge are not confirming the casualties or the death count overall. that's because they're still frying to fichtd out. >> exactly, i don't think we're going to get in touch with anybody down there at this point in time that's in a law enforcement position, because as you can see, they're all responsibili responding to this particular situation. >> one more piece of information and we're trying to pass this along to you, the viewers at home, as i get it from cnn headquarters. a source with knowledge of the investigation it is still an active working scene, an active crime scene here, you can see the pictures from wafb the local television station in baton rouge. we're seeing images from the ground as more news outlets seek to get there.

more from cnn's nick valencia, the officers involved in the shooting were from the baton rouge police department as well as from the east baton rouge sheriff's office. so officers from both departments, from both offices apparently involved in this shooting. there's nothing more, art, as we see these pictures, this video tells us relatively little from the moment of the crime? >> yeah, i mean, again, we're seeing this with almost like blinders on, and i'm sure there's a lot going on since this video actually came out. >> and when the authorities say this is still an active working scene, do we take that to mean that there is still gun fire being exchanged? my reaction is that they are now investigating the crime scene. >> that could be the case, but we haven't got word yet on what the status of the shooter is. >> right. >> so that active scene could mean they're still looking for this particular individual. >> there is a variety of

information, some of it conflicting that we're confirming as we try to obtain the best information for you. we're watching the local station here, which of course scrambled to get to this scene, we're thinking about 9:00 in the morning, my favorite time of the week, the city is so quiet, neighborhoods are so quiet, people are just starting their days on the weekend, many of them heading to church. and apparently this man was walking down, this is i believe airline highway, walking down the street, with this weapon in his hand. that's why authorities were called to the scene. according to one of these initial reports. the idea that he was out walking, you know, suggested there's a lot more we don't know in terms of why he was out there with that weapon. >> exactly. this could have been -- and of course information is sketchy, but this could have been one of those scenarios that it was a

distract, a lot of peoples what we're seeing is police officers ambushed in the past, they'll get a 911 call, officers respond and somebody will shoot at them, nothing related to the call, but the call itself was an ambush tactic. it's just odd to me that one person with a handgun would create this. >> nick valencia is on the phone with us now. nick, you've been in baton rouge for a number of days recently. are you there right there? >> i'm on my way in a couple of hours, but currently still in atlanta. >> can you tell us what you are being told and what you have learned and can you set the scene for us what's happened in baton rouge in recent stays, it's important to remind viewers not just about the alton sterling shooting by police officers, but also the protests that followed, can you fill us?

>> reporter: certainly the last week has been an emotionally charged environment, particularly in baton rouge, a very anxious time, when we saw near riots in baton rouge a week ago, from state police and local agencies who told cnn that they have been on a heightened state of alert ever since what happened in dallas, and the fear of course that something like this could happen in baton rouge because of the environment. sources close to the investigation telling us seven to eight police officers wounded, at least three of those officers are believed to be dead. reports of a suspicious man walking there on u.s. airline highway, which is just a few blocks up from the cop shop, when we're told the call came in to police, they respond, members of the baton rouge police department, as well as the east baton rouge parish sheriff's office responding and they were shot. this is still from what we understand from this source, is still an active, working scene, more police units are on the way

right now. there is a possibility that there could be a second shooter involved in this shooting against police officers. >> and we often hear about the prospect of multiple shooters in these situations. for the most part, in most of these situations it turns out to be a lone gunman, but yes, there is that prospect and thunderstorm authorities have to take that seriously and investigate that. can you tell us about the protests in baton rouge in the past couple of days, i'm told it's been pretty quiet. >> we saw a lot of protesters come from out of state, last weekend we saw that sort of more and more demonstrations, a lot more arrests, but in the past several days, local organizers have said that they were going to wait until after the funeral of alton sterling which was on friday to continue their demonstration, to make a stronger push for what they were

telling me was -- we haven't seen the crowds that we have seen last week, but there are certainly efforts under way to continue them, we just haven't seen the level of protests that we saw last weekend. >> nick valencia, thank you very much. as we watch live pictures here from the local affiliate in baton rouge, they are trying to gather more of the same information we're trying to gather, there are conflicting reports about the number of dead and injured. one source telling cnn that three officers are dead in this shooting, and several other officers wounded, some of them critically. cedric, are you receiving any further information from what ask a small and friendly community of officers across the country, unfortunately a community that finds itself in close communication on an awful day like this? >> yes, this is painfully

horrible news on a sunday or any gimp day for that matter, as information continues to emerge. i think it's going to be very important to all of us to be able to kind of just keep our wits among ourselves right now and just continue to be very thoughtful and prayerful and hopeful for the officers that were injured on the scene. so we just don't know at this point what the fatality is going to be. but this is very hurtful. i haven't received any additional information. i'm going to jump off here in just a moment and begin to make some contact s and pull some information i hope to be helpful to the american people. >> let me ask you one more question before you hop off the phone. there are at least a couple of

reports from the scene that this gunman had an assault rifle, and i know the language we use around guns is specific and we should be very careful about it. assault rifle can mean different things, but what are at least the initial indications that he had a very high powered weapon? >> in all likelihood to have that many officers and create what we expect to be those number of deaths at that point, i'm pretty certain that that's not going to be from a handgun, that's probably going to be from an assault rifle. i don't want to make this a gun debate, because that's not what this is going to be about at this very moment, what this is going to be about, securing that scene and getting help for these police officers and anybody else from the community that may have been injured and making sure that we identify the

perpetrator, either they have him cornered, he man neutralized and he's given himself up. but right now, it's really staying focused right now on the health and welfare of those officers from that community. because i think that's critically important for this country at large. >> cedric, thank you for being here, thank you for joining us there and helping us understand this to the degree that we can at all. i think we can't say it often enough, we have very little information about what's happening in this shooting from baton rouge. we know that multiple officers were struck, we have a source with knowledge of the investigation, that three of them have died and several others are wounded and some are in critical condition. we are seeking information from the hospitals and the authorities, we do have this from our justice reporter, the fbi is on the scene in baton

rouge. art roderick is here with me from cleveland, bale from the republican national convention, what is the significance of the atf being on scene? >> it's a weapons charge, i'm sure everybody rolled out when word of this. i'm sure everybody responded, usually when these types of incidents occur, you're not only going to get federal support, but also aid from the local -- we're talking about a very large crime scene area, i agree with cedric, if this is an assault rifle, atf will be all over this, this is what atf is going to be looking at, whether an automatic rifle was used. >> i'm sitting here, watching these images along with you, and i can't help but wonder what kind of -- how deranged, how

disturbed, how sick you have to be to shoot at police officers? you have studied this sort of situation, do you know anything about what can possibly -- >> i think at this point in time in our history, that we're having a lot of anti-law enforcement rhetoric out there. and i think some of that might push somebody over the edge. >> you do think that words can have those consequences? >> i think words can have those consequences. i mean we have seen it here, unfortunately, this individual obviously is deranged, i think once they pin this individual down, if they haven't already got him in custody or neutralized him, we're probably going to find out he's got some severe psychological issues, but having said that, that's the one thing we always have to come back to in these types of situation, we have somebody that's just not right in their head. >> and officers who could have

helped and would have helped him in this case. as we take a look at this, about 11:45 eastern time as well. there's still not indication that there's gun fire still being exchanged for quite some time, that may mean that this is no longer an active shooting situation, a standoff or a shoot-out, but an active investigation at the shooti ini scene. >> i think you're probably right, they might have the scene contained and now they're going through the arduous process of trying to get that crime scene together, look at all the rounds that were fired, you know, if the individuals is alive or dead, hopefully he's alive and we can find out. the key to this is why? why did he do this? and if it's a psychological issue, okay, that's fine. if it's another issue, then we've got to really look at what's going on here.

hopefully, you know, this individual had some mental problems and has not taken on a certain cause, causes that we have heard as of late, terrorism or anti-law enforcement. >> the word terrorism comes up in situations like this, because people fear some sort of terrorism attack, using a gun like we saw in orlando last month, in which case we have heard nothing like that from any source. >> absolutely. >> people's minds go to these places. >> nin a case like this on a sunday morning, clearly there were some officers on patrol, they were reported on the scene, does it put them at a disadvantage that it is a sunday morning, is there fewer officers that are able to respond quickly? >> i think that's not the case, because they have been on alert here for over a week now, i think the one benefit that occurred on sunday morning is

that there probably wasn't a lot of the public out on the highway. >> very different from the ambush we saw in dallas? >> exactly, you're talking about a large protest, you can find in a fatal funnel walking up that street, that's what happened in dallas. in this scenario, it's a fairly large highway, if he's got an assault rifle, unfortunately, he can pick off those officers. >> we're talking about a couple of hours after this incident, it could have lasted a relatively short period of time. >> sit could have lasted a relatively short period of time. >> any information on how this gunman was taken down. >> one of the things that are most important to find out in the hours to come. >> definitely why. we have to find out why. because this is really going to affect what's going on around the rest of the country here. we have got to know the reasons why because the fbi will take a look at this and if it's a

mentally disturbed individual, there's still going to be a warning going of across the country, we have had officers killed and wounded, so that alert will go out, but we have to know the reason why. if this is related to any other issue, that's going to impact everything that's going on, to include what's happening here in cleveland. >> here in cleveland, of course an enormous police presence here in cleveland while that affect the convention? >> again, we go back to the reason why? why did this individual do this? unfortunately there could be a copy cat situation here, this is in baton rouge, there's really not much going on on a sunday here, but here in cleveland, the rnc is going on, if somebody wanted to make a splash, this

would be a national special security event because of that reason. >> let's set the scene for viewers who are turning on last despicable news in baton rouge, a gunman opening fire on police officers there. but a source with knowledge of the investigation has told cnn's don lemon, that three officers are dead, that several were shot and some of those who were shot and are alive are in critical condition. the indication from baton rouge was that there was no active protest at the time. i say that because you have seen protests in baton rouge and many other cities. there was no protests going on at the time. this was a quiet sunday morning in baton rouge, this man, apparently walking on the site of the road, with what is described as an assault rival, police officers arrived on the

scene and apparently gun fire started, this gunman started shooting at the police officers, we know little other than that. we have been showing you this eyewitness video that was taken during this incident, during this or deal, is something that when you see it, frankly i have become a bit speechless, because you can't possibly imagine what it was like for these officers, in that moment. we are already hearing from police departments across the country, police unions and others saying they stand with baton rouge police department at this moment. we have seen these situations in baton rouge, the old hammond neighborhood of baton rouge, we know little other than that, but 2 authorities are gathering more information and so are we here at cnn to find out exactly what has transpired and in what

order. whi we don't have any indication that this is an active shooter situation, and we haven't heard any gun fire for quite some time. but we are seeing images on the screen, an intense police presence on our art roderick, cnn law enforcement analyst here with me on the set. i would imagine -- i'm thinking back to the dallas ambush. sadly only nine or ten days ago at this point, parts of dallas were shut down for days afterwards. this could be somewhat different because we're not talking about a crowded urban area. but we are talking about an area in the heart of baton rouge. what is it that investigators are going to need to find out about what happened at this crime scene? >> they're going to do their normal crime scene search. they're going to get on scene. i think we've seen them before

walking shoulder to shoulder up the highway here to try and locate every single bullet was fired and figure out where it went, who shot, who was firing. the local law enforcement officers that responded will usually be on administrative leave until they sort out exactly what happened here. we don't know the condition of the shooter at this point in time. i agree with you, i think if there was still an active shooter situation going on and law enforcement was engaging with this individual, we would have heard reports that there's still gunfire. we haven't heard that. >> what sort of training are officers given in order to have to engage with a gunman like this? what would that scenario be? >> active shooter scenario that we've seen in the past. they are going to go in and immediately try to neutralize the threat. you've got an individual with an assault rifle that can basically go through their bullet proof vests which are only designed to

stop a handgun at this point. so these assault rifles and the damage they can do is pretty devastating. >> there are some indications, i know i sound repetitive to the viewers at home, but there's so much we don't know. there are some reports from authorities that this does appear to be an ambush style attack. that lines up, art, with what you were saying a few minutes ago. from the descriptions we're getting early on, it does sound to you like that. >> absolutely. when you have three officers possibly killed and seven or eight wounded, that is an ambush scenario. how many times have we heard one officer goes in to neutralize the shooter and he takes him out. >> what do viewers, seeing these awful pictures, what do viers know about what it is like for

an officer on a day-to-day basis? these officers, apparently three dead, others injured, woke up on a quiet sunday morning not having any idea this would happen. >> i know you've heard this before, but this is one of these scenarios that, you know, police officers get up in the morning, they go to work, kiss their wife and kid good-bye and they want to come home at night. in this particular case, if this turns out to be true, three officers are not going to come home tonight. we've got eight others in the hospital. wearing uniform is a very difficult thing nowadays. you're basically a target out there. you're an easy target because you're there in a kricruiser an uniform. hopefully we only have one shooter in this scenario. >> if you're just joining us, i'm jake tapper in cleveland sitting here with cnn law enforcement analyst art roderick. we are covering this horrible

breaking news out of baton rouge, louisiana. a source with knowledge of the investigation tells cnn that three officers have been killed, seven officers have been shot. this is breaking news with cnn. we're going to take a quick break, reset, and come right back. and who doesn't then seize the day already. crabfest is back at red lobster with so many kinds of crab and the most crab dishes of the year. so dive into whatever floats your crab-loving boat. like crab lover's dream. crack open tender snow and king crab legs, and twirl creamy crab alfredo. or try the new alaska bairdi crab dinner. sweet and straight from the icy waters of alaska, you've gotta get it... to really get it. but it won't last forever, so hurry in. w...i was always searching for ways to manage my symptoms.

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thanks for joining us. i'm jake tapper in cleveland, ohio. we are here to cover the republican national convention of course, but we are going to turn our focus south right now. we have disturbing breaking news coming out of baton rouge, louisiana. a source with knowledge of the investigation telling cnn that seven police officers in baton rouge or the baton rouge area have been shot and three of them are feared dead. there is an active scene still going on at this hour. police received a call earlier this morning that there was a suspicious person walking down airline highway with an assault rifle. the police investigated and all we know as of now is that the shooting heard within the city, local police have already turned over the investigation to louisiana state police. the officers involved in the shooting.

we are told from the baton rouge police department as well as from the east baton rouge parish sheriff's office. the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms is on the scene in baton rouge. the special agent in charge from new orleans we are told is on route to the scene. that's according to a spokesperson from atf. just a reminder that when there are breaking news stories like this one, we will bring you all the information that we can, the best information from reputable sources, but quite often those sources later change their account of what's going on as they get new information. what we are going to do is bring you the best information we can according to witnesses and according to authorities. but it is early information. just to keep that in mind. obviously all of this takes place not in a vacuum, but roughly ten days since five

police officers in dallas, texas, were essentially assassinated by a domestic terrorist. it also occurs of course less than two weeks since alton sterling, an african-american man, was shot and killed in a confrontation with police. and also a few days ago in baton rouge, there were law enforcement arrests of individuals who were suspected of plotting an attempted assassination, attempted attack on law enforcement officials. all of this of course possibly relevant or may be completely incidental to what we are seeing out of baton rouge, louisiana. let's bring in cnn law enforcement analyst and former assistant director at the u.s. marshal service art roderick. we have no idea if this is terrorism, some sort of political statement, or just another day in the life of a

police officer. >> it could be, but we -- baton rouge right now is a flash point. we know that. they've had protests there. they've made some arrests during those protests. and then we had the incident with the pawnshop being robbed and made the three arrests. supposedly there was a fourth individual that was out. they recovered six of the eight weapons from that robbery. but this is -- this goes beyond. hopefully we only have one shooter here who had some mental issues. hopefully this is not somebody with some sort of demented cause. that is going to make all the difference in the result here. it sounds like they might have this under control because we have yet to hear of anymore shots being fired in that area. it has been almost two hours since this incident occurred. >> somebody, witness account, in local media, i believe in the new orleans times, said he went to walk his dogs about 8:30.

not long after he heard 10 to 12 gunshots. all i meant is it is danger roadways to be a police officer and it is possible this is police officers and they confronted a criminal and were shot. >> i tend to agree, but it's three officers dead. that's a lot. that's a lot. so something -- >> something -- that reads different to you. >> completely reads different to me because it's just a lot of casualties here, a lot of injuries for just a normal day in the life of a police officer. >> okay. >> this rings to me more along the lines of dallas. >> of course, all the information coming in right now and we don't know right now. let's bring in the president of the fraternal order of police. he joins us now on the phone. chuck, thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate it. i don't know if you have any information from your brothers and sisters i