Baton Rouge police say 2 officers, suspect shot
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Two Baton Rouge police officers who were shot early Saturday during a confrontation with a suspect are hospitalized in stable condition, police said.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. said he believed the officers' injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. The suspect is undergoing surgery at the same area hospital.
"Everything is still preliminary, and we're still working the scene," Dabadie said. He did not release the names of the officers or the suspect.
The officers responded to a call at about 5:30 a.m. to a report of someone damaging property. When they arrived, the suspect took off in a vehicle. The officers chased him until he bailed out of his car, about 2 miles away.
Baton Rouge. Sgt. Don Coppola said the suspect exited his vehicle with a rifle and fired at the officers, hitting both. The officers returned fire and struck the suspect.
District Attorney Hillar Moore says investigators will study video footage taken by the dashboard cameras in two police cruisers for evidence into the shooting. He said at least one of the officers was wearing a body camera, but it wasn't known whether he was able to activate it before the confrontation took place.
Moore said a bullet grazed the head of one officer; the other officer was hit in the stomach but protected by his bulletproof vest.
"Both of these officers were very fortunate to survive this encounter," Moore said.
He said one officer was white and the other, black. The race of the suspect was not immediately available.
