President Obama on Baton Rouge Shooting: ‘We Need to Temper Our Words and Open Our Hearts’

President Obama condemned the shooting of six police officers in Baton Rouge, La. , which killed three, in a press briefing on Sunday afternoon, and called on Americans to “temper our words and open our hearts.”

“We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement,” Obama said from the White House press briefing room. “Attacks on police are an attack on all of us, and the rule of law that makes society possible. We need to temper our words and open our hearts — all of us.”

Obama acknowledged that one of the surviving police officers remains in critical condition, and that the gunman’s motives are unknown, as have been reported. The shooter, 29-year-old Gavin Long , died at the scene.

With the Republican and Democratic national conventions taking place over the coming weeks, Obama stressed the importance of avoiding divisive rhetoric and actions. He predicted that the political scene would be “more overheated than usual.”

“Around the clock news cycles and social media sometimes amplify these divisions,” he went on. “That is why it is so important that everyone: regardless of race or political party or profession, regardless of what organizations you’re a part of, everyone right now focus on words and actions that can unite this country rather than divide it further.”

Sunday’s address marks the second time this month Obama has spoken out against the killings of law enforcement officials. He previously condemned violence against police officers after five were killed by a sniper in Dallas .

“The death of these three police officers underscore the danger that police across the country confront every single day,” he said Sunday.

The conversation surrounding police has been especially heated as of late in Louisiana . Cell phone footage recently captured Baton Rouge police fatally shooting Alton Sterling , igniting a debate about the treatment of African-Americans by law enforcement in the U.S.

Alex Stedman © 2016 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC