OFFICER'S DEATH TRAGEDY FOR CITY

We extend our condolences to the family of 31-year-old Terry Melancon, a
Baton Rouge Police Department detective who was killed in a gun battle with
a suspected drug dealer.

Detectives Dennis Smith, 41, and Neal Noel, 35, were wounded in the
exchange, and they are expected to recover. We wish them well in their
recovery, and we know that the community of Baton Rouge will keep these
officers in mind as they heal.

Baton Rouge also has a lot of healing to do in the wake of this terrible
incident.

The shootings occurred when police officers went to an apartment on Capital
Heights Avenue with a warrant to search the home of 25-year-old Gergely
Garry Devai. Police say that Devai opened fire with what they believe to be
a .45-caliber handgun as the three officers burst through the front door of
Devai's duplex with a search warrant in hand. Police say they knocked on
the door first and identified themselves as police officers, but the
suspect refused to open the door.

Devai was shot as police returned fire, and he later died at a nearby
hospital. Police say they found extensive evidence inside Devai's apartment
that suggested he was growing and selling marijuana.

We might never know why Devai, a Hungarian national, resorted to violence
over suspected drug activity that, if proved in court, probably would have
gotten him a light sentence. Police have been investigating the shootings,
and we hope the investigation yields insights into what happened and what,
if anything might be done to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Even under the best of circumstances, police work is inherently dangerous.

Only 16 months ago, another Baton Rouge Police Department officer, Vickie
Wax, was killed with her own gun while trying to apprehend a shoplifting
suspect at what was then the Wal-Mart on Perkins Road.

Police believe the suspect, Shedran Williams, also shot a security guard
and a customer who tried to help Wax.

Melancon and Wax both died while on duty in neighborhoods that aren't known
as high-crime areas. Their deaths serve as a reminder that crime can exist
anywhere in our community. We can't think of crime as something that
happens only to someone else in some other neighborhood.

Crime is a community problem , and the whole community must be involved in
addressing it. Melancon, who died much too young, surely would remind us of
this if he were alive today.