Police officer killed in Baton Rouge was a combat vet who served in Marines, Army

A Marine veteran who later pulled three tours in Iraq as a soldier was among the police officers gunned down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday.

Baton Rouge Police Officer Matthew Gerald enlisted in the Marine Corps out of New Orleans and graduated from boot camp in San Diego on Oct. 11, 1994.

The food service specialist was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, according to personnel records. He rose to the rank of corporal during his four-year tour, and earned a Good Conduct Medal along the way.

Gerald then joined the Army in August 2002, and repaired Black Hawk helicopters with 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Hood, Texas. He left that service as a specialist in May 2009. Gerald deployed to Iraq from June 2003 to March 2004; March 2005 to February 2006; and November 2007 to January 2009, according to Army records.

“After three tours, not a scratch on him. Comes back home, chooses a job to serve others and this is what our society does?” Nick Lambert, who served with Gerald in the Army, told the Washington Post. “It’s a coward’s way to make a statement.”

Gerald earned four Air Medals, three Good Conduct Medals and the Combat Action Badge during his time in the Army.

"Matt was the kind of guy that you knew immediately when he entered the room," Ryan Cabral, who served with Gerald in Iraq, told the Post. "Whether it was the energy he carried with him or that Cajun accent he had . . . maybe it was the Marine in him."

Gerald served in the Baton Rouge Police Department’s uniform patrol division. He graduated from the Baton Rouge Police Academy in March. He and his wife, Dechia, celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary two weeks ago. They have a 3-year-old daughter together, and Gerald had adopted his wife's daughter from a previous relationship.

Gavin Long, a former Marine sergeant who served in the Corps from 2005 until 2010, is believed to have killed Gerald and fellow police officers Montrell Jackson and Brad Garafola, and wounded three others.