Gunman kills officer near New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — An off-duty police officer and a woman he was helping were shot and killed Friday in a New Orleans suburb, and authorities were searching for a man who had been involved with the woman, officials said.

Authorities shut the Mississippi River bridge from New Orleans’ east bank to its west bank to conduct the search, causing traffic to back up for miles.

Munch said he joined the department in July 2015 and “finished first in everything” in his police academy class of roughly 20 recruits.

A sharp increase last year in the number of police officers killed in the line of duty was marked by a pair of deadly ambushes in Louisiana and Texas.

On July 7, a sniper in Dallas killed five law enforcement officers and wounded nine others at the end of what had been a peaceful rally against police brutality.

Less than two weeks later, a lone gunman shot and killed three law enforcement officers and wounded three others in an attack outside a Baton Rouge convenience store.