In the latest Baton Rouge News, the shooter who killed three police officers and injured three others on Sunday was identified by the police as Gavin Eugene Long. Gavin Long was a 29-year-old black male from Kansas City, Missouri. For all those who are searching for information about the tragic incident and are Googling “Gavin Long Wiki,” “Gavin Eugene Long Wiki,” “Gavin Long Kansas City,” “Gavin Eugene Long Facebook,” “Baton Rouge News,” “Baton Rouge shooter race,” “Baton Rouge shooter identified,” “Baton Rouge shooter black,” and “Why did Gavin Long shoot police officers?” don’t go anywhere else, because you’ve come to the right place, and we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Baton Rouge shooter.
Here are ten facts you need to know about Gavin Long:
His online name was Cosmo Setepenra
Gavin Eugene Long used the pseudonym Cosmo Setepenra for all his internet activities. He posted on social media platforms about the recent police shootings in Dallas, as well as police brutality towards black men. His YouTube videos showcased him stating that people need to “fight back” after the brutal homicides of black men by police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Minnesota. He said that “bloodshed” and not just protests, was necessary.
According to one of his YouTube videos, Long was in Dallas after the police shootings on July 7 and had gone there to distribute his published self-help books. The trip was allegedly planned before the attacks on the police, during the peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. In his YouTube video, he spoke out about how people should react to police brutality.
“One hundred percent of revolutions, of victims, fighting their oppressors, from victims fighting their bullies, 100 percent have been successful through fighting back, through bloodshed. Zero have been successful just over protesting. It has never worked and it never will. You gotta fight back, that’s the only way a bully knows to quit, he doesn’t know words. He can’t understand words, I promise you. He doesn’t understand protests. If y’all want to keep protesting, do that. But for the serious ones, for the real ones, the alpha ones, we know what’s it’s going to take. It’s only fighting back or money, that’s all they care about. Revenue and blood, revenue and blood, revenue and blood, nothing else. Don’t even think about it.”
Here’s the video Long posted from his hotel room in Dallas.
Long tweeted a photo of the sniper, Micah Johnson after the shooting at the Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas and called him “one of us.”
Long wrote an e-mail about the Alton Sterling shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
He served in the Marine Corps
Long served as a sergeant in the Marine Corps for five years. He was honorably discharged for medical reasons, due to an undisclosed physical injury in 2010. He was even deployed to Iraq for one year and left in 2010.
His birthday was on the Day of the Shooting
The gunman celebrated his 29th birthday on Sunday, the same day he opened fire on police officers. Long wore body armor, had his face covered and wore all black as he started shooting “indiscriminately” at the police officers on Sunday morning. The weapon he used was an AR-15 rifle.
The initial attacks were reported at 8:40 am, when a woman complained that a man was walking with an assault rifle at the B-Quik gas station on Airline Highway. She said he was wearing a coat and was walking behind the store. Within seconds, shots were fired and officers were down. Long was killed before other officers arrived on the scene.
No Criminal Record
Gavin Long had no criminal record of any previous arrest in Missouri. The three officers gunned down by the retired Marine were identified as Brad Garafola, Matthew Gerald, and Montrell Jackson. Long was shot dead by the police at the scene.
He belonged to a Black Citizen Group
In early July, Long had posted a YouTube video announcing that he was not “affiliated with anyone.” In the video, he said, “I’m affiliated with the spirit of justice, nothing else.” The police found a membership card, that proved Long belonged to a black sovereign citizen group, called Washitaw Nation of Mu’urs, that is classified as a domestic threat by the FBI. Sovereign citizens consider themselves to be exempted from state and federal laws and paying taxes. According to court documents, Long declared himself a sovereign citizen.
Here are some of the documents that were filed by Long in Missouri last year:
https://www.scribd.com/document/318534874/Gavin-Long-Sovereign-Citizen#from_embed
He was a college drop-out
Long was a student for only one semester at the University of Alabama. He is also listed on the Dean’s List, according to the university’s website. Long graduated with an associate’s degree from Central Texas College and studied at Clark Atlanta University before dropping out of college.
Journey to Africa
Long had been residing in Africa for the last two years. After dropping out of college, Long sold off his cars and gave away all of his material possessions. He packed two suitcases and decided to take a trip to Africa after he had a “spiritual revelation.” On his blogging website www.convoswithcanvas.com, he refers to Africa as his “ancestral homeland.” He traveled to Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, Ghana and Burkina Faso.
He had recently returned to the U.S
Gavin tweeted that he had recently returned to the U.S, after living in Africa for two years. His twitter handle @ConvosWithCosmo stated that he was starting fresh. He even had a registered website www.convoswithcanvas.com. Long’s Twitter bio described him as a “Freedom Strategist, Radio Host, Mental Game Coach, Alpha Preneur, Author, World Explorer and Former Marine.” His ancestry is Ethiopian.
Travel
Besides Long’s two years spent in Africa, he domestically traveled to over thirty states in the U.S and internationally traveled to The Bahamas, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Maldives, and Iraq among many other countries.
Personal Life
Long married to his wife Aireyona Hill in 2009, and the couple got divorced in 2011. They had no children. While living in Africa, Long wrote and published three books about the laws of attraction, spirituality, and the universe. Since the age of sixteen, he had developed an interest in “nutrition, health, fitness, personal transformation, and spiritual mastery.” According to his website, Long also had “extensive sports nutrition, a life coach, and spiritual counseling experiences with fitness enthusiasts, professional athletes, and spiritual seekers.”
