Hillary Clinton condemns shooting of Baton Rouge officers

Hillary Clinton today called for an end to the “madness” after the death of three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, saying that if she is elected president she will use all her powers to hold those who kill police officers legally accountable.

“They represent the rule of law itself if you take aim at that and at them you take aim at all of us,” Clinton told civil rights activists at the annual convention of the NAACP.  “There can be no justification, no looking the other way.”

The Democratic presidential candidate condemned the killing of three Louisiana law enforcement officers, the latest in a recent string of shootings involving black men in Louisiana and Minnesota and police officers in Dallas. She said anyone who kills a police officer or acts as an accomplice must be held accountable.

“This madness has to stop,” Clinton said. A former Marine ambushed police in Baton Rouge yesterday, killing three law enforcement officers in the attack. Three other officers were wounded, one critically. The shooting, the fourth high-profile deadly encounter involving police over the past two weeks, added to the tensions across the country between the black community and police.

Recent violence has cost the lives of eight officers, including those in Baton Rouge, and two civilians, and it has sparked a national debate over race and policing.