Baton Rouge police say alleged plot to shoot officers uncovered, 3 arrested

Protesters outside of the Baton Rouge store where Alton Sterling was killed.
(Image credit: Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)

Police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said Tuesday a burglary over the weekend at a pawn shop was part of a wider plot to attack law enforcement officers in the city.

Early Saturday, officers responded to a burglary call at the Cash America Pawn Store, where they discovered that nine guns had been stolen, WAFB reports. A suspect arrested at the scene, 17-year-old Antonio Thomas, reportedly told investigators that he and at least three other men were behind the burglary, and that they planned to use the stolen guns against police; Thomas also allegedly said the plot stemmed from the officer-involved shooting of Alton Sterling last week in Baton Rouge. Along with Thomas, two other suspects have been arrested and seven guns have been recovered. An unidentified fourth suspect is still at large. (Note: This article has been updated.)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.