Authorities Foil Planned Attack on Baton Rouge Police Officers

Authorities in Baton Rouge, La., have arrested three people who officials say stole guns from a local pawn shop and planned an attack on police officers days after the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling.

The suspects, whose identities have not yet been released, allegedly burglarized a pawn shop over the weekend, The Times-Picayune reports. One of the suspects told police that he and three other people were plotting to get guns and ammunition to target police officers, authorities said. “This was an actual, credible threat,” State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson told the newspaper.

A fourth suspect is still at large, police said.

Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was killed by police last week in an encounter that was largely captured on video and raised widespread concerns about the officers’ actions. His high-profile death — and that of Philando Castile, another black man in Minnesota — sparked anger and protests, which preceded the fatal shootings of five police officers in Dallas.

[Times-Picayune]