Mayor is more visible

Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La.

After police killed a man outside a convenience store and protesters filled the streets, the first black mayor of the Louisiana capital seemed to be conspicuously missing. Kip Holden’s absence was so glaring that demonstrators called for his resignation.

But with the shooting deaths of three law-enforcement officers Sunday, the 63-year-old Democrat has become more visible, standing up for his police force and accepting condolences from mayors across the country, including the leaders of Orlando and Dallas, and from President Barack Obama.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Holden vowed Wednesday to unify Baton Rouge after two weeks of violence and anguish.

The day the officers were killed “was one of the worst days in the history of Baton Rouge” and in his 12 years as mayor, Holden said.

He said he was confident that the city would endure.

“It’s been trying, but I have not shed any tears because I know we will win out,” he said from his downtown office.

Citing the Bible, as he does often, Holden quoted Job: “Yet though you slay me, I will rise again,” he said. “Yet though those officers have been slain, Baton Rouge will rise again.”

The mayor was getting ready to go to church Sunday when he got a call from his sister about ambulances on Airline Highway, a busy thoroughfare.

At the hospital, grief poured out. The mother of a deputy sheriff killed in the shootout held a child in her arms and said she didn’t know how she could go forward. The deputy’s young daughter couldn’t believe her father wasn’t coming home.

“Dad’s not dead,” he recalled the girl saying, “and he’s coming home this afternoon.”

The mayor described the experience as “like having your insides ripped out.”

The slayings came only days after five officers were killed in an ambush in Dallas and more than a month since a gunman opened fire in an Orlando nightclub, killing 49 people.

“It’s like Groundhog Day,” he said. “We can’t be reliving this stuff over and over again. But yes we were.”

The police force is on high alert, and law-enforcement officers from surrounding parishes have poured in to help. Funerals for the officers are pending.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is investigating the killing of Alton Sterling, who was selling CDs in a black neighborhood when he died at the hands of two white officers. His shooting death, caught on graphic cellphone video, sparked days of protests that reverberated around the nation.

Protesters have promised to resume their demands for police reform, and Holden said the city was “prepared for any scenario.”

It’s a delicate time for Holden, who cannot seek re-election because of term limits. Voters will pick a new mayor in November. On Wednesday, he registered to run for a congressional seat.