–A 23-year-old white man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon and two counts of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated criminal damage to property and illegal use of a weapon by Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police today in connection with three shootings that took place this month. Authorities said they found matching shell casings at both crime scenes and in both cases, the shooter got out of his car and fired the victims multiple times. Baton Rouge Police spokesman Sergeant L’Jean McKneely would not say if the killings were racially motivated, but added, “We’re not completely closed off to that.”

Interim Baton Rouge Police Chief Jonny Dunnam noted the city has suffered racial turmoil in the past year or so. L’Jean McNeely told ABC News that the killings “could possibly be racially motivated,” police said in a press release Tuesday that the “motive is still unclear and this is an ongoing investigation.”

Police had initially questioned Gleason for hours and searched his home and his vehicle, but didn’t have enough evidence to charge him in the murders when he was arrested on drug charges on Saturday, McNeely said. A homeless man, Bruce Coefield, was killed on Tuesday and two days later Donald Smart was gunned down on his way to work just five miles away near Louisiana State University. The second happened Thursday when 49-year-old Donald Smart was gunned down walking to work, The Advocate reported.
Two African-American men are killed in separate incidents near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a third home is shot at in what local and federal officials call racially-motivated crimes. A local man is arrested on suspicion of the murders.