Kyle Joekel, 28, was one of seven people involved in what was being described as a pair of ambushes on sheriff’s deputies outside of New Orleans.
According to a report by the Shreveport Times, investigators in Louisiana had Joekel on their radar for months before the shooting and believed he was part of some sort of “anti-government group.”
Authorities believe that suspect, Kyle Joekel, 29, may have ties to anti-government groups, in particular a loose organization known as Posse Comitatus that generally doesn't recognize authority above the level of county sheriff. The name of the group means "power of the county" in Latin, according to the Anti-Defamation League's website.
The Shreveport newspaper reported that Joekel, Terry Smith, Brian Smith, and two women had been living in a trailer park north of Mansfield in June. DeSoto Parish authorities were alerted after residents saw some of them carrying assault weapons.
After a break-in at the trailer park's washroom, the sheriff's office moved a trailer to the site and began surveilling the group, Davidson told the Times. The DeSoto Parish Sheriff's Office ran background checks and discovered members of the group were on a federal watch list.
Davidson told the newspaper that Joekel was linked to an "anti-government group." He said that Joekel and Brian Smith -- the two men he said committed the shootings Thursday -- were apparently "spooked" by deputies' presence at the trailer park and were not seen there after the break-in.
Link to Times-Piacayune
There are so many of these shootings happening it is not possible for me to comprehend why there is so little being done. The NRA has made sure that these idiots are well supplied with weapons that I have only fired in combat (RVN 68/69).
The "Lone Wolf" excuse is too fucking lame to even laugh at. How many of these people are out there? Are these dead officers the price the rest of us pay for the freedom of the second amendment... to keep and bear arms?
How many more dead, innocent people will be enough to make the politicians change the laws for assault weapons and high capacity magazines? Sadly, there may never be enough.