10:00 p.m. eastern each night. thanks for inviting us into your home. that's it for the special report. fair, balanced and unafraid. it is monday, july 18th, this is a fox news alert. bloodshed in baton rouge. the country once again finds itself mourning police officers murdered in cold blood. good morning, you're watching fox and friends first. it is monday morning. >> we continue to say this every morning it seems, at least every week, they police attack happening just ten days after five officers were gunned down by a sniper in dallas. this time the officers responding to a 911 call about someone with a gun. six of them hit with bullets

before the killer was taken out. >> officer down, shot fired, officer down. got a city officer down. >> we have an officer down. they hit one officer. be back in just a second. stand by. >> the execution fuelling fresh concerns about security as the republican national convention kicks off in cleveland today. >> fox news is following the heightened security live for us from cleveland. let's get right to baton rouge this morning with the latest there, leland. >> ladies, good morning on what can only be described as a day of abject addness here in baton rouge. the flag is at half staff here behind me. the police department as it is here across this city. there may not be words to describe the as a sadness after the early morning peace and calm of a sunday morning was broken by the unmistakable sound of a

running street battle at about 9:00 a.m. sunday as officers responded to a 911 call of a man with a rifle. they arrived there at that scene and then began a fierce gun battle with this suspect and then came the chilling reports of a number of officers wounded. >> the police, they're shooting at the police. he has a mask on. he is military. i don't know who this man is. >> six officers would end up being brought down by gunfire. three of those killed as they screamed over the radio for help. >> shots fired. shots fired. officer down. got a city officer down. >> we have an officer downtown behind. the deputies, they're getting the one officer they'll be back for you in just a second. stand by.

>> and that was trying desperately for these officers shot to stay alive. three officers lost their lives in this attack. we start with officer jackson. 32 years old. 10 years on the force. friends describe him as a gentle giant. put a post up on book talk about how the past couple of days and the racial tensions here in baton rouge, louisiana were testing him to his core. he talked about the paradox getting nasty looks while in uniform and looks of fear while out of uniform. the next officer that died, 24 years as a sheriff's deputy. neighbors report that he had four children. matthew gerard. only on the force for a year. graduated the academy and recently began patrolling by himself. celebrated his 4th wedding

anniversary. 3-year-old daughter. was a former marine and black hawk crew chief . they've been shaken to the core. >> i said be prepared, be aware of your surroundings and be safe because that's what this is all about. >> we can add to the list of names we wish we never heard in america, gavin long, yesterday the day of the shooting was his birthday. he had been a marine for five years and was found dressed in black with extra ammunition clipped to him. some reports say he had been a member of the nation of islam and posted youtube videos incredibly racist in their nature. this morning one officer reremains in the hospital fighting for his life and law enforcement from around the state and around the country has converged here, not only to help but also in the event that there's more threats or more

attacks coming. last night we ran into the fbi regional s.w.a.t. team and you do get the sense that there's at least the fear that this violence against officers is not over. back to you. >> live for us in baton rouge. thank you so much. >> well, authorities now of course trying to piece together more information about the suspect. you heard his name there. 29-year-old gavin long. he is a former marine from missouri. and we just heard from leland, you know, the police officers all across the country have been on high alert in the past week since dallas and here you have another incident happening yesterday. you know, all you can think about today is the families. we just saw the photos of the police officers and their wives and their children and your heart is them and police officers get up every day to serve and just the feelings that they go through now to protect us. >> and the fear that more

attacks may happen across the country and we just named the suspect. let's name those victims. those three brave police officers once again that lost their lives going out to do their jobs to keep us safe. montrell jackson, and matthew gerald did not go home to their families. >> this comes of course as the convention starts today. >> security already increased but probably more sonchts it's hard to quickly talk about the political implications of this but as you said, coming here the first day of the rnc convention of course it's on everyone's mind and how the candidates would handle something like this moving forward. one of the things said in some of the conversation yesterday, people talked about can you, in fact, legislate what is in people's hearts? >> that's a good question.

peter has been on the ground there in cleveland following the security as they prepare for this weekend. he's there live now. good morning to you. as we're talking about already on high alert where you are but even more so now, less than 24 hours after what happened yesterday in baton rouge. >> right, abby and heather and even though those officers were ambushed in baton rouge, law enforcement officials here on the ground were telling us that protestors ability to legally carrie because of state law, weapons into downtown cleveland this week creates a variable that could make things tricky for them during any protests so now the police union is asking governor kasich to suspend ohio's open carrie law suggesting that the lives of those tasked with protecting the rnc convention may depend on it. >> if you're telling me that you can't do it then that implies that the delegates lives are

more important than the police officers lives. we don't want to divert the limited research that we by watching good law abiding citizens that have open carry, that's going to draw attention in this tragic world right now. we want to have all our resources looking for the truly bad people that are going to come out here. >> but kasich's office isn't going to do it. a spokeswoman tells us that, quote, law enforcement is a noble essential calling and we grieve seeing attacks on officers. ohio governors do not have the power to suspend state and constitutional rights or state laws as suggested. we've seen one guy walking around near the convention site. he attracted a lot of attention but is just making a point about how he thinks it's too easy to bring guns here.

so far there has not been any violence. things have been peaceful. officials authorized about 170 protest permits and now we wait for the rest of those as well as any unauthorized demonstrations. back to you. >> peter joining us live, thank you so much, peter. one of the big concerns is what he was talking about and that is governor kasich saying he cannot suspend the state's open carry laws and how that will put officers at greater risk. >> it's a great point. so let's turn now to former washington d.c. detective and fox news contributor. good morning. thank you for joining us. baton rouge has been on edge since sterling was shot over a week ago preparing for the very worst. what we experienced and saw happen yesterday was just that. in fact, the very worst happ happened. >> exactly. new information is how the

police officer was actually lured here by the suspect. these police officers ambushed yesterday, they were having breakfast according to some of my sources not far from where i'm standing now which is about a mile, maybe a half a mile from the actual shooting scene so when the initial calls rang out and went out of a man with a done, several officers were already together so they left the restaurant and then responded immediately to the gas station and the convenience store where the shooting took place. once they arrived on the property there that's when the suspect opened fire. you may recall from listening to the 911 tapes one of the officers repeatedly said we don't know where the shots are coming from and the only reason he said that is because the shooter had positioned himself in a way whereby the officers could not exactly see where they were being ambushed from so this investigation is still taking on a lot more information and we'll learn a lot more today as the day goes on. >> you know, it's almost the same exact thing that we heard

from you when we talked about dallas where we didn't know where the shooter was coming from. at one point we thought they were in a triangular formation. these are military trained individuals, these suspects that are attacking and murdering our officers. how do we know if he acted alone in what do we know about that and what is your concern about other attacks happening across the country? >> those are excellent questions and actually whether or not this individual acted alone we don know but i can tell you from my law enforcement sources that they are aggressively pursuing additional leads regarding this individual and other individuals you may have come across. now he obviously came to this area less than a week ago because as you earlier reported he was actually inial lass about two weeks ago for that shooting there. at the same time i was there in dallas. so for some reason this guy when to dallas and came here to baton rouge and staged the attack here

to probably try to make himself a copy cat of the individual shooter in dallas texas. >> a lot of questions remain. either way still a long emotional day ahead. thank you for waking up. >> thank you. >> such a hard day. hard day. >> well, the time now is 11 minutes after the top of the hour. donald trump promising to get america back on track by restoring law and order. >> hilary is a weak person. we are the law and order candidates. we're going to change things around. >> is this message the trump-pence ticket to the white house? well our political panel is on deck next to weigh in.

>> we need toughness, we need

strength. ball ba obama's weak, hilary's weak. part of it is that. we need strong borders. >> whether it be the horrific attacks in france or inspired here in the united states, the instability in turkey that lead to a coup that's all a result of a foreign policy that has lead from behind. >> donald trump and mike pence saying that it is time to stop leading from behind but will his push for law and order be their ticket to the white house? >> good question. joining us from cleveland to weigh in boris epstein and kathie lynn taylor. good morning to you in cleveland. thanks for waking up early as always. >> good morning, welcome to cleveland. >> one thing you can say about donald trump is he has a real talent when it comes to branding and branding his cal pain whether it's make america great again now he's saying we are the ticket, the law and order ticket. that goes a long way in politics

because peel can easily define why it is they're running. >> it's brilliant and he has a pension for the timing. with four mass attacks on u.s. oil in as many weeks an terror deaths. not just indents but deaths across the world, more than 80% just last year alone, americans are not only clammering for leadership but also people around the world are clammering for leadership. this slogan is going to go a long way and now people can really relate to trump as laying down the law and pence as maybe bringing it up with order. >> they were talking about this last night and he said, you know, that would be what could move this ticket into the white house but the problem is right now voters want to know if they can trust donald trump. if he is a safe candidate in terms of moving in and keeping

them safe. so huh can he give viewers an answer to that question that is a positive one? >> well, about 60% of people in america feel less safe now than they did 8 years ago. they feel the country is going the wrong direction, 60% and keep in mind that donald trump's trustworthiness numbers are much better than hillary clinton's and they're constantly improving. what he will do throughout this week and on through november 8th is tell the american people his vision for america. making sure our borders are safe and making sure our veterans are treated correct. so we don't have veterans that have such severe psychological issues so that they're carried out by people involved in the military. donald trump will secure this country and hillary clinton couldn't even secure her e-mail. >> a lot of times it's hearing from their family. we'll heaferent member of the trump family every

night of the convention. tonight is melania trump. his wife. what impact do you think that's going to have? >> it's one of the things that voters seem to relate most to with mr. trump is his family values, success of his children. the close tight knit nature that his family has. melania trump is a successful career woman and mother and wife. someone that's only in a very difficult campaign really seemed to exercise nothing but good judgment, restraint and loyalty. could be very relatable if she taps into that aspect and those values tonight and i think that if she does that, voters are going to not only relate to her but be really excited for her to open up the convention. >> there's different themes each night. make america safe again. make america work again. first again. one again. tonight just happens to be make america safe again and it's the night that melania is speaking. so what do you think she'll have

to say about making the country safe? >> especially after what happened yesterday in baton rouge. >> she'll be echoing the message of the trump campaign and republican party which is that we need to safe guard our borders. we need to safe guard our citizens. that we're not living in a constant state of fear. there's a bang outside my window and my first thought is what is happening in this town? and we as citizens of this country should not be thinking about that so the whole trump campaign and tonight melania will be doing so as well will be talking about keeping america and safe and talk about how trump-pence is the right ticket to get that done and they will win on november 8th. >> the country will be watching. thank you so much. we'll see you guys soon. >> thanks. >> 20 minutes now after the hour and social media flooded with sick messages of support for the killer that ambushed baton rouge police officers killing three of them in cold blood. clayton morris joins us up next

live with the out rage that is now boiling over.

>> some mourned the horrific attack and others took a disgusting message to social media. >> some of the most shocking social media reactions. clayton we were just talking about this in reference to dallas. it seems every time these people get online and before we even know what has happened they're celebrating it. >> it's horrible. >> right and you think about the republican national convention. the conversation will be coming out of these walls. it's not coming out of baton rouge but social media and the responses were disgusting. you were talking about this one

yesterday. this caused a lot of controversy. this photo, political controversy in baton rouge and we have to blur out the more vulgar statements aimed at police officers. we're not going to show them to you and then another tweet blaming the police for the shooting. take a look at this one. good cops need to start snitching on their racest co-workers today. only y'all can stop this and it looks so odd that that new black lives matter emoji with the fists raised in the air and then so other posts were incredibly vulgar and disturbing like this one that shows no sympathy whatsoever for these pigs. i hope baton rouge won't be the last. twitter took that post down now. it's interesting to see which ones they decide to take down and which ones they decide to receive up because some of the

other ones have been let up and available which i find disheartening. here's one that shows the #we ain't scared as protestors standing in front of armed police officers saying ferocious we -- look there's a divide tearing this country apart and we aren't scared and then of course you have political leaders bouncing back immediately firing their comments and donald trump was one of the first to respond saying this yesterday, saying we grieve for the officers killed in baton rouge. how many law enforcement and people have to die because of a lack of leadership in our country? we demand law and order. that of course is the line we have been hearing from donald trump and mike pence over the last few days. they are the law and order candidates. mike pence taking to twitter as well. our country needs leadership, our police need support. we can and must stop this. it's time to rerenew america's commitment to law and order to make all of our people safe once

more and then finally, speaker ryan weighing in on this. paul ryan saying horrified by another senseless attack on law enforcement in baton rouge. we pray for the officers and their family. once again here at the republican national convention, this conversation, what's happening here in cleveland being driven by what's unfolding and driven by baton rouge at this hour. getting set to start a few hours from now. all eyes will be on baton rouge. back to you. >> what they're deleting and what they're allowing to stay. >> unbelievable. >> the time now is 27 minutes after the top of the hour. killed in cold blood. more heart break in america as officers that promised to protect and serve are gunned down. brand new information about the killer and his sick message days before the murders. >> the ambush raising fresh fears for police in cleveland as thousands descend on the city for the republican convention this week. we're live with new measures now being taken.

it is monday, july 18th and this is a fox news alert. police officers killed in cold blood in baton rouge. good morning, you're watching fox and friends. >> good morning. that's right. six officers responding to a 911 call were shot at outside of a gas station. three were killed and three others injured. >> this comes just ten days after five officers were killed in dallas and so far this year, 30 officers have been killed by gunfire. compare that to just 14 in all of last year and it's only july. >> heartbreaking. the execution fuelling fresh concerns about security as the republican national convention kicks off in cleveland today. >> fox news is following the heightened security live for us from cleveland. >> but first let's get right to leland live in baton rouge with the latest there this morning.

>> ladies, the flag behind me is now at half staff as are the flags around most of this city and i'm not sure that there's words in the english language to describe the sadness and grief in baton rouge. >> the police are everywhere. this man is shooting at the police. he has a mask on. looks like a rifle. he is military. i don't know who this man is. >> it was about 8:40 in the morning that the sounds of sirens and heavy gunfire. that running street battle broke the peace and quite of sunday morning inside baton rouge. those six police officers were responding on an original 911 call about a man with a rifle. very close to the police department and very close to a popular restaurant that police officers ate breakfast with. they arrived to a hail of gunfire coming at them.

they obviously returned fire and with that came the desperate pleas for help. >> shots fired officers down. got a city officers down. shot fired. >> we have an officer down. we need it. >> the deputies they're getting the one officer. they'll be back for you in just a second. stand by. >> the three officers killed in the line of duty. officer jackson, 32 years old. ten years on the force. friends described him as a gentle giant. he had recently posted on facebook about the racial tensions that have taken over baton rouge saying they had tested him to his core. talk about the paradox of getting nasty looks while in uniform and looks of fear while out of uniform. also killed, sheriff's deputy, 24 years on the sheriff's department. four kids. described as a family man that was a wonderful neighbor. matthew gerard, 41 years old.

just celebrated his 4th wedding anniversary. 3-year-old daughter. former marine and army black hawk crew chief. he had just been on the force a little less than a year. only out on patrol by himself for a couple of weeks. >> hero is not even a word for those sheriff's deputies and police officers. just incredible human beings and to stand here with my brothers to see their emotion in the hospital this morning was unbelievable. makes me want to do my job even harder. >> we are learning more about the suspect. add the name gavin long to the list of names we wish we had never heard. 29 years old. black male. had been in the marines for five years. the day of the shooting was his birthday. he was reportedly dressed in black carrying lots of extra ammunition for that rifle he had with him. reports indicate that there's a number of social media posts and

they're violently racist and violently antipolice. and to that end, lady, you do get the sense as law enforcement from around the state, around the country converges here on baton rouge that officers really fear these attacks against them may not be over. >> it really just hits home when you see the families of these police officers. >> they're young children. makes it so real and heartbreaking. in the aftermath of another horrific ambush on police, president obama is calling for national unity. >> only we can prove that we have the grace and the character and the humanity to end this kind of senseless violence. to reduce fear and mistrust within the american family. to set an example for our children and that's the best way for us to honor the sacrifice of the brave police officers that were taken from us this morning.

>> but are we any closer to preventing further violence? let's ask republican congressman and the baton rouge native. thank you for joining us this morning on such a difficult day. >> you bet. thank you. >> first, if you could just share your thoughts with us about what is going on in baton rouge, as a native. >> sure, i grew up here. what happened yesterday was just disgusting. this is not -- this is not our hometown. this is not our community. you saw a marked contrast over probably the last weekend about four days after the sterling shooting where you had folks coming in from out of town and changing the whole dynamic of the protest. they brought the protest from the shooting area to right here at the baton rouge police headquaters. forcing an engagement trying to insight violence and that's when you saw things taking a turn from the worst. >> the shooter himself from out

of town was also in dallas and reportedly travelled there to baton rouge to kill the officers. >> more concerns this could keep happening. you have political leaders calling for unityling for this country to be together. what conversations are being had on capitol hill between you and your colleagues about how we can improve the situation? >> sure. speaker ryan pulled together a task force comprised of former law enforcement officers in congress. many members of the congressional black caucus to have a dialogue. to talk about steps forward and in fact, the congressman and i introduced legislation last week trying to improve the nonlethal technology giving them more tools to help subdue or neutralize suspects. there needs to be a cultural shift. if many suspects come mied with officers you'd see very different outcomes. >> what about a special unit put together? there's been some talk about

that. a special unit to investigate these crime across the country that are happening. >> absolutely. we have to understand where this hate is coming from. understand any groups affiliated with it. this is home grown terrorism and we have niek sure that we understand these threats and are able to nip it in the bud before we have other tragedies like this. >> i know this hits very close to home being from baton rouge so we appreciate the work you're doing to try to bring this country together at a time when we desperately need it. thank you for being with us this morning. >> our prayers to the entire community. >> adding to a growing list as the republican national convention begins today. >> but in the wake of so much violence nationwide and abroad, security officials are ready for

anything. >> good morning. we have been speaking to convention officials about if they changed anything in the wake of the attacks. the attacks serve as a reminder of the potential that existed and they have been planning more than a year now. in the wake of the nice truck attack they altered some barriers around the city though in response to the baton rouge attack from yesterday the police department says they haven't really changed much. there's always a risk or always can be a risk to police officer as they do their jobs. the secret service is patrolling the inside of the arena and the direct perimeter and the director of the secret service says they're prepared. >> every event has some incident. do you have a good plan in place? good leadership that can adapt and be flexible to whatever is thrown your way. i'll confident that here in cleveland we have that. >> there's thousands of federal, state and local police officers working the city of cleveland right now. there's 2700 local officers

assisting the cleveland police department. one of them from out of town. we talked to a deputy sheriff there and he told us about how policing has changed over the last few years. >> been doing this awhile and i haven't felt like a big target is on your back. i've never felt like this and the more they realize that we're human just like everybody else is. there's always a concern because there's always somebody that wants to do something crazy and law enforcement is the easy target nowadays. >> the cleveland police unit also requested that the city and county suspend it's open carry here in cuyahoga county. governor kasich rejected that so open carry is allowed in cuyahoga county and cleveland and as you get closer to the

convention center that's where secret service governs and that is certainly not allowed anywhere in the arena. back to you. >> but something that is allowed and we were just discussing this is the open carry law that the governor says he can't do anything about. a lot of people are asking for that today. >> yeah. and that's the police union and they made the request to governor kasich and governor kasich says it's a right within the state and constitutionally and there's nothing he can do about that but the police union says look this is something that is of great concern to us. you saw what happened in baton rouge and we would feel safer and the community would feel safer if we were allowed to ban the open carry of firearms in cuyahoga county but the governor rejected the claim saying there's nothing he can do about it. >> no doubt. they'll be on high alert all weekend long. rich, thank you. >> thank you, rich.

>> well, the time is almost 20 minutes, 41 after the hour. well, indiana governor mike pence now the man of the hour. >> one of the big reasons that i chose mike and one of the reasons is party unity. i have to be honest. >> will pence really unite the party? former republican senator of massachusetts scott brown weighs in up next. the american red cross

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>> it is party unity. i'm an outcider. i was establishment when i gave them hundreds of thousands of dollars. is he establishment? >> very establishment. >> it's probably obvious to people that our styles are different but our vision is

exactly the same. >> that was donald trump last night on 60 minutes revealing his main reason for picking mike pence as a running mate and will this new ticket finally unite the party? >> here to weigh in, fox news contributor and former republican senator of massachusetts, scott brown. thank you for waking up early with us. >> good morning. >> i haven't gotten to sleep. >> even better. so let's begin there. will the trump pence ticket be what needs to happen to unite this party? >> well i think it's a first great step. i mean, really the way we unite the party is hillary clinton. the fact that she is the nominee and is so far left and will continue on with the ball balm policies and failed policies and we can two on and on with her negatives but pence is a solid choice. he's a good guy. he brings in the conservative base. different styles. he'll bridge the gap between the

antiestablishment and the establishment because donald trump does want to have legislation passed that's going to implemented his policies and a host of other things. you need someone that knows their way around congress. >> you have the governor of ohio that's not speak at the convention and i heard yesterday about this never trump movement. but i heard yesterday that there's still a last ditch effort to remove donald trump before it is final. what is your message to them and folks like john kasich and jeb bush about uniting the party this moment? >> i have a tremendous amount of respect for all of those people including governor kasich and jeb bush and mitt romney and everybody but when they were down and they needed our help we rallied around them and now here it is we need their help and they're not rallying. i love john kasich but it's rude that he's not there.

the fact that he begged to have this convention here in cleveland for him. for his re-election and his state and his community and we're here and he's not and i'm a little bit offended and everyone i'm talking to feels the same way. there's a lot of people in the convention that want to go up and say governor thank you for what you did and bringing the conversation and being this and doing that. we don't have that ability. i don't want to misspeak but i think he's at an naacp convention tomorrow speaking but he can't come here and speak to us and say thank you for all the work -- i had him at my house for a barbecue. i had 450 people there. it would be listen i want to thank all the people that showed up at the barbecue and that's the problem. we need to get over ourselves because we have at stake right now, imagine he lelizabeth warr walking down as a deciding vote when it is the judicial positions and there's so much at

stake right now. whose side are we on? >> in terms of picking a side there's been discussion about pence and trump disagreig about some things. whether it is something about negative campaigning to trade policies and iraq. what about that? >> well of course there's going to be disagreements. you don't want a clone. you want somebody in the number two position that has his or her own position or feelings. if donald trump is president what he says will go and pence is going to have to bite his lip and move on but he's there because of his amazing qualify kwa kagss and the ability to get the people's business done. that's why he's there. it's a solid choice and i'm proud of that choice and it show ace lot of maturity and understanding of what's needed by donald trump. >> we're going to leave it there. thank you for waking up so early. >> have a good time this week.

>> thanks. well, the time now is about ten minutes until the top of the hour. up in arms, a battle brewing in cleveland over the open carry law in wake of the baton rouge attack on police officers. >> the new push to ban weapons and what governor kasich has to say about that.

>> in the wake of the deadly police shootings in baton rouge and dallas a cleveland police unit is asking to suspend conceal and carry gun laws during the republican national convention. >> but governor kasich says his

hands are tied. good morning. >> good morning to everyone. here in ohio they allow them to wear their opens in public and that law does stand here at the rnc with the exception of the secure zone. people are allowed to walk around cleveland with their guns and it's getting a lot of attention as water guns and tennis balls are reportedly not allowed but firearms are but as long as they're not specifically banned here in the buckeye state. they're calling for the law to be out lawed here in cuyahoga county, particularly this week. he says this, he says are you telling me that the lives of the delegates are more important than the lives of our officers and of people here? that the governor is not going to do everything he can to make officers in this state,

including his state troopers safe, then shame on him. governor kasich's office said ohio governors do not have the power to suspend federal and state constitutional rights. he goes on to argue this is not an attack on the second amendment or on open carry at all. he says this is about protecting law enforcement and the people in the few blocks around the convention. he said it's just about a six block area we're talking about. they also requested that cleveland's police chief change ambulance. officers will be posted on patrols alone and without vehicles around them in some cases and they ought to be in groups and have those vehicles there for protection in case things get bad. >> you have to prepare for the worst at this point. anna, thank you. >> thank you, anna. >> all right. about four minutes now to the top of the hour. officers executed.

the country mourning the loss of police officers killed in cold blood yet again. brand new information just emerging about the killer. >> and the ambush raising fresh fears for police in cleveland. and across the country as the republican national convention begins. we are live in cleveland and baton rouge at the top of the hour.

>> bloodshed in baton rouge. >> the country fines itself mourning police officers murdered in cold blood. >> you're watching fox and trends first. >> thank you for joining us. this deadly police attack happening just ten days after five officers were gunned down by a sniper in dallas. this time, the officers responding to a 911 call about someone with a gun.

six of them hit with bullets before the killer was taken out. >> shots fired. officer down. shots fired. officers down. >> we have an officer down. we need evac. >> they hit the one officer. they'll be back for you in just a second. stand by. >> the execution fuelling fresh concerns about security as the republican national convention kicks off in cleveland today. this is a live picture there of the quicken loans arena. >> peter is following the heightened security for us live there from cleveland. >> let's get to leland live this morning with the latest there. leland. >> ladies, good morning. it is difficult to describe this sadness and grief that's overtaken this city of baton rouge. the flag at half staff here at the baton rouge police department as it is across this city as there is truly a dark cloud of sadness.

>> this man is hooting at the police. he has a mask on. nice little sniper rifle. he is military. i don't know who this man is. a running gun battle broke the peace and calm of a sunday morning in baton rouge about 8:40 in the morning in a restaurant not far from the police department. officers were having prbreakfas according to one expert, rod wheeler here. that is when a 911 call came about a man with a rifle not far from there. the police headed to the scene and that's where the gun battle began. six officers wounded, three killed. >> shots fired. officer down. {off-lin {off-line}