“Words cannot express the emotions we feel for those who have lost loved ones in the tragic events of this day,” the Bishop said in a statement after the Sunday morning shooting deaths of three Baton Rouge police officers.
The three officers were gunned down during a shooting rampage by a 29 year-old former Marine named Gavin Long who was killed by police during the shootout. The altercation began when police received a call about a “suspicious person walking down Airline Highway with an assault rifle.” When police arrived, they were ambushed.
“There was no talking, just shooting,” Baton Rouge Police Cpl. L.J. McKneely told CNN.
The deceased officers have now been identified as Montrell Jackson, Matthew Gerald and Brad Garafola.
Only a week ago, Officer Jackson had posted on Facebook about how physically and emotionally drained he was since protests had erupted in Baton Rouge after the July 5 killing of Alton Sterling by police.
“I swear to God I love this city, but I wonder if this city loves me. In uniform I get nasty, hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. … These are trying times. Please don’t let hate infect your heart.”
Another police officer is in critical condition and two others suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
While calling upon the faithful of Baton Route to turn to prayer at this difficult time, he acknowledges how many may wonder what good could possibly come out of these heartbreaking events.
“Only the Word of God has the answer to the questions that shake our faith: The answer is our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus, hope ultimately triumphs over despair; love ultimately triumphs over hate; and resurrection ultimately triumphs over death,” the Bishop said.
He encouraged the people to “stand firmly on the pillars of these eternal truths.”
He also renewed the call for a dioscesan-wide week of prayer and fasting which was initiated in the wake of the fatal shooting of 37 year-old Alton Sterling by two police officers. Known as the “CD Man”, Sterling was involved in a scuffle with police outside a convenience store after law enforcement was called to the scene to investigate a man who was selling CDs and who was threatening and waving a gun at a customer. During the scuffle, Sterling was shot three times in the chest by police officers, sparking a nationwide round of protests which culminated in the July 7 shooting death of five Dallas police officers.
Bishop Muench called upon his flock to recognize and celebrate their diversity rather than allowing those differences to draw them into conflict with one another.
“We have different stories, different experiences, different backgrounds, different opinions, and different understandings. The current situation in our community is fluid and changing. As we search as a diocese to respond in a way that will unite us and bring us together to work for converted hearts and spirits, let’s do what we can do now,” he urged.
“Our immediate response is a sincere request that all adult persons in our diocese pray and fast this week so that we may gain wisdom and courage to become personally and communally involved in building bridges across everything that divides us to become better brothers and sisters to each other.”
He also asked the faithful to reflect upon the following two questions:
1. What does it mean to you that we are all made in the image and likeness of God?
2. How can you acknowledge this great truth in your words and actions toward those whom you perceive as “different” from you?
We must always remember that we are all companions on the journey, he said, “called to support each other along the way, and be ambassadors of hope and mercy.”
He concluded: “May fear not lead us into despair. May anger not move us to inflict pain upon others. Rather, moved by the grace of Christ’s suffering for us, may we in turn impart that grace to one another.”
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