Baton Rouge gunman visited Dallas barbershops days before La. attack
DALLAS -- Just days before Gavin Long shot and killed three police officers in Baton Rouge Sunday, the 29-year-old was in Dallas visiting barbershops to promote a self-published book, reports CBS DFW.
Long visited at least three barbershops on July 7, when he introduced himself by his pseudonym, Cosmo Setepenra, and passed out his book, "The Cosmo Way, Vol. 1 The Detox."
Andre Hurd of Hurd's Barber Shop said Long never mentioned violence or came across as being angry.
"He said I'm just trying to pass knowledge to our people so they can read and they can help one another and stuff like that," Hurd said.
Bryan Davis, of His and Hers Barber Shop, had a similar impression of the former Marine when he visited his shop.
"There was absolutely nothing that you could have picked out of his conversation to tell you he was radical," Davis said. "It's extremely scary to have a person like that, to come across someone like that, and then later on get this kind of news. That's unbelievable."
Davis was unaware that Long had recorded video in his barbershop. The recording was later posted to Twitter, along with another recording at a different Dallas barbershop, in which he complained about portrayals of gay men on television.
While Long offered no hint of future violence to those in the Dallas barbershops, another video posted to YouTube that same day seemingly offered a hint of what was to come.
In that video, also recorded in Dallas, Long condemned peaceful protest.
"It's only fighting back or money, that's all they care about -- revenue and blood," Long said in the video.
His last tweet, posted about seven hours before he shot and killed three officers and wounded three more, proclaimed: "Just [because] you shed your physical body doesn't mean you're dead."