BATON ROUGE, La. — Police arrested three suspects and were seeking a possible fourth suspect accused of stealing several handguns as part of what authorities Tuesday described as “substantial, credible threat” to harm police officers in the Baton Rouge area.
The arrests come at a time of heightened tensions after the deadly police shootings of black men in Baton Rouge and Minnesota and the killing of five police officers in Dallas last week.
Authorities in Baton Rouge discovered the alleged plot while responding to a burglary at a pawn shop early Saturday morning, Baton Rouge police Chief Carl Dabadie said in a press conference. The first suspect arrested told police that “the reason the burglary was being done was to harm police officers.” The chief said the suspect didn’t indicate any details about when or where a possible plot would be carried out.
“We have been questioned repeatedly over the last several days about our show of force and why we have the tactics that we have. Well, this is the reason, because we had credible threats against the lives of law enforcement in this city,” he said.
The police department has come under criticism for the tactics it’s employed to deal with protesters, using riot police and military-style vehicles on the streets of the capital city. Over a three day period, police arrested about 200 protesters.
Authorities said they arrested one suspect at the pawn shop and tracked down two others. The third suspect arrested was a 13-old boy who was apprehended on a street. They called on the fourth suspect to turn himself in.
Police didn’t immediately release the names of the suspects but said they all are from Baton Rouge and all are black.