Arkansas funeral planned for Baton Rouge gunman who killed 3 police officers

A funeral for Gavin Long, shown in this photo from YouTube — the man who killed three police officers July 17 in Baton Rouge — will be held in Arkansas, according to a funeral home owner who said she was contacted by Long’s mother regarding the service.
A funeral for Gavin Long, shown in this photo from YouTube — the man who killed three police officers July 17 in Baton Rouge — will be held in Arkansas, according to a funeral home owner who said she was contacted by Long’s mother regarding the service.

A funeral will be held in Arkansas for Gavin Eugene Long, who fatally shot three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge on July 17 before he was killed by a SWAT team.

Beulah Kincaid, owner of Kincaid Funeral Services in Helena-West Helena and Forrest City, said she didn't recognize Long's name when she received a call last week from his mother, a Missouri woman with Arkansas roots.

"When they contacted me, I had no idea," Kincaid said. "It wasn't until the next day when I made contact with the coroner's office that I knew what I was dealing with."

Kincaid said she spoke again Monday with Long's mother, Corine Woodley of Kansas City, Mo., and that plans are still to have his funeral in Arkansas. There are no details yet regarding the service or burial.

"We are definitely going to handle the final disposition," said Kincaid. "I have to do it. That's the job that I'm in. My heart goes out to all the victims. This mother is hurting. My heart goes out to this family and everyone involved."

Gavin Long, 29, was from Kansas City.

Woodley is originally from Colt, about 10 miles north of Forrest City, according to her Facebook page. She works for Travel Nurse Across America, which is a health care staffing agency based in North Little Rock, according to the Facebook page.

Shane Evans, chief of investigations for the East Baton Rouge Parish coroner's office, said Long's body was released at 7 a.m. Monday to Bagnell & Son Funeral Home of Covington, La.

Under Louisiana law, the body has to be released to a funeral home in the state, Evans said. Then it can be transferred out of state.

Kincaid said Long's body was still in Louisiana late Monday.

Evans said Long died of multiple gunshot wounds after he killed Matthew Gerald, 41, and Montrell Jackson, 32, both of the Baton Rouge Police Department, and Brad Garafola, 45, of the East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's office.

"This is a pure ambush," said Evans, referring to the deaths of Gerald and Jackson. "He shot these guys from behind."

Two other deputies and a Baton Rouge police officer were injured in the shootout.

"As far as Baton Rouge is concerned, that name will be attached to hurt and pain for a very, very long time," Evans said of Long.

The Baton Rouge attack came less than two weeks after a gunman killed five police officers in Dallas.

On July 5, Baton Rouge police officers fatally shot a black man named Alton Sterling, igniting protests across the city. The next day, Philando Castile, a black man in a suburb of St. Paul, Minn., was shot and killed by a white police officer during a traffic stop.

At a July 18 news conference, Col. Michael Edmonson, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, said Long was a black man and former Marine who had posted videos online that seemingly endorsed violence as a way to push back against law enforcement officers.

"There is no doubt whatsoever that these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated," Edmonson said.

Long had two rifles and a handgun on him at the time of the attack.

According to a document filed last year in Jackson County, Mo., Long sought to change his name from Gavin Eugene Long to Cosmo Ausar Setepenra. In the document, filed with the Jackson County recorder of deeds and first reported by the Kansas City Star, Long claimed his nationality was "Washitaw."

According to law enforcement officials, Long was carrying a Washitaw Nation membership card during the shooting. Washitaw Nation is a black nationalist movement that was once targeted by the FBI, and federal courts have characterized it in the past as fictional and do not recognize it as a sovereign nation.

Jackson's funeral was held Monday in Baton Rouge. It was the last of the funerals held for the three slain law enforcement officers in that city.

Metro on 07/26/2016

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