U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch strongly condemned the weekend killing of 3 Louisiana police officers in Baton Rouge, saying FBI agents and other federal agencies were in the city to help local authorities.
"We are determined to do everything that we can to bridge divides, to heal the rifts and to restore trust, but most of all, now is the time to ensure that every American, everyone, under the sheltering arm of our Constitution, feels respected, feels supported, feels safe, everyone -- no matter the color of their skin, the color of their uniform, where they live, where they work, this is all our house, this is all our house and we have to protect it."
Former Attorney General Eric Holder said the events underscored the need to control Americans' access to deadly firearms.
"It is time. It is far past time for those of you in law enforcement to join with other responsible Americans and take on the mindless, industry-driven gun lobby that values an illogical individual ability to possess military-grade weapons more than the lives of the American people in general and our law enforcement personnel in particular. Speak up."
It was not immediately clear whether there was a link between the Baton Rouge attack and unrest over the police killings of two black men in questionable circumstances this month.
Louisiana State Police Colonel Mike Edmonson said the deceased police officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated.
"It was a calculated act against those who work to protect this community every single day. That indeed, ladies and gentlemen, is the shooter. That is the engagement that you will see that his movements articulated, they are intact, they are combative and they are real."
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards described the act as "diabolical".
"There is nothing more fundamentally important than maintaining law and order so that people can have good quality lives, and that's what he attacked, the very fabric of society. And that is not what justice looks like. It's not justice for Alton Sterling or anything else that's ever happened in this state or anywhere else. It's not justice for anybody. It's certainly not constructive. It's just pure, unadulterated evil."
The Baton Rouge attacker, identified as 29-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran Gavin Long from Kansas City, has been shot dead in a gunfight with police on Sunday.
Earlier on July 5, a black man Alton Sterling was fatally shot dead outside a convenience store in the same city.
The incident, along with another killing of a black man in Minnesota, triggered protests against police violence.
One of the protests in Dallas, Texas, saw 5 local police officers shot dead by a former U.S. Army Reserve soldier.
For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.
