A veteran East Baton Rouge Parish, La., sheriff’s deputy who served high-risk warrants and earned accolades in his career became the fourth law enforcement officer to die in the area in the line of duty over the last eight months after he was fatally shot Saturday night at a strip-mall hair salon while trying to question a rape suspect, reports The Advocate. Sgt. Shawn Thomas Anderson, 43, a father of two and an East Baton Rouge Parish deputy for 18 years, struggled with the rape suspect, and shots were fired. The suspect also was shot.
Anderson’s killing occurred as Baton Rouge law enforcement continues to grieve the assassination of three officers in July during an ambush that also left three others wounded. Deputy Brad Garafola and Baton Rouge police officers Matthew Gerald and Montrell Jackson were killed July 17 in an ambush by a former Marine from Kansas City, Mo. James Tullier, the father of Deputy Nick Tullier, who was critically wounded in the July 17 attack and remains in an intensive rehabilitation facility in Texas, said the shooting was another tragic blow to the tight-knit local law enforcement community. Tullier said there isn’t enough support for police and deputies in the parish, and laid some blame for that at the feet of local elected officials. “The change has to start in the community and with some of these officials who want to be soft on crime,” he said.