RadioOnFire.com - As the public continues to delve into details on the life of Baton Rouge police shooter Gavin Long, more is being learned about the motive behind his assault on Sunday morning [July 17]. Hours after the Airline Highway scene was contained and updates on the victims and persons of interest had circulated the media, news of the suspect's identity broke, with word on his Missouri residence, military past, education, marital status and race coming to the nation's consciousness. Before long, the social media trail left on his personal website, Instagram account and Twitter feed, gave the world exposure to the psychology of a radicalized veteran who a year ago changed his name to Cosmo Ausar Setepenra.
According to Long's website bio he professed himself a "freedom strategist, mental game coach, nutritionist, author and spiritual adviser." It has been learned that he was working as a self-employed life coach, and traveled the book touring circuit as a self-published author of at least three manuscripts that have been sold on Amazon.com. Much of the material Long wrote about has been uncovered through an assortment of YouTube videos he shared of himself spelling out his ideas, which speak on the oppression of Black citizens in the U.S., and directs viewers to consider taking up arms against the state.
"Let's go with the history. 100% of revolutions, of victims fighting their oppressors, from victims fighting their bullies; 100% have been successful through fighting back. Through bloodshed. Zero have been successful just over simply protesting. It has never worked and it never will. You've got to fight back," Long goes on record as saying in one particular video. He goes on to dismiss the notion of peaceful protest as an effective means to fight injustice, posing that those who simply speak out about their rights make themselves targets for arrest. "You know your rights. But then you've got to stand on your rights. There's two parts to freedom. Knowing your rights doesn't mean nothing, especially in this world, ran by devils. You're in a world that's run by devils," he says.
Long, who it has become increasingly clear, carried Sunday's attack out in retaliation over the shootings of Black men by police, chose to stage the bloodshed on his 29th birthday. In the video he claims to have been in Dallas when ex-Army vet Micah Xavier Johnson executed five police officers working a Black Lives Matter protest last week, but denies having had prior awareness of Johnson's plans. Sunday's police victims have been identified as Brad Garafola, 45, Matthew Gerald, 41, and Montrell Jackson, 32. The circumstances of their death have been widely attributed to the unrest sparked over the killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile on July 5 and July 6.
Long was a graduate of Central Texas College, who is noted to have been in good academic standing during stints at Clark Atlanta University and the University of Alabama. He was quite an established serviceman, holding the rank of sergeant in the Marines from 2005-2010, and served deployment in Iraq between June 2008 and January 2009. In a video posted to YouTube on July 8, Long disavows having affiliation to any particular movement or group, stating: "I want to let ya'll, if anything happens with me ... don't affiliate me with nothing ... I'm affiliated with the spirit of justice, nothing more nothing less."
Source: youtube.com
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