A gunman who killed three police officers and wounded three others in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was a US Marine Corps veteran, a US government official says.
Officers were responding to a call of shots fired when they were shot in what Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden described as "an ambush-style deal."
Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Mike Edmonson said the gunman behind the shootings was killed and there are no suspects at large. The motive was not immediately clear.
"Baton Rouge officers at a convenience store observed the individual. He was wearing all black standing behind a beauty supply store holding a rifle," Colonel Edmonson told reporters.
The suspect has been identified by a US official as Gavin Long, a former US Marine. A source told the Reuters news agency Long was 29 and from Kansas City, Missouri.
Investigators also said there was reason to believe a 911 call may have been used to lure police to the shooting scene and that the possibility it had been a conspiracy was being examined, according to the Reuters source.
One of the wounded police officers was the sheriff's deputy, 41, who was in a critical condition and "fighting for his life as we speak," Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said. The other two officers were in stable condition.
Two city police officers, a 32-year-old with 10 years of service and a 41-year-old with just under a year on the force, died in the attack, said Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr.
Also among the dead was an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy, who was 45, Mr Gautreaux said.