Fallen Baton Rouge officer was nephew of JSU QB great

Fred Jackson, whose name is known by many football fans in Jackson, tweeted something Sunday that echoed in the hearts of many people.

"Montrell Jackson was a great young man, my nephew. A great father and husband. He will be missed by so many," the former Jackson State University standout wrote.

Fred Jackson, a native of Baton Rouge, played quarterback at Jackson State from 1968-1971, earning All-SWAC honors. He led the conference in passing his senior season.

Fred Jackson's son, Jeremy, played wide receiver at Michigan from 2010-13. His youngest son, Josh, plays quarterback at Virginia Tech. Josh Jackson's Tweet was one of the first to identify Montrell Jackson as one of the fallen.

Montrell Jackson was one of the Baton Rouge officers who was killed in the attack on police Sunday morning. He was 32, a new father, and someone who loved his community and took his 10 years with the Baton Rouge Police Department seriously. He was killed alongside fellow BRPD officer Matthew Gerald and East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Deputy Brad Garafola.

The accused killer, 29-year-old Gavin Long of Kansas City, Missouri, was a Marine veteran who served in Iraq in 2008. Long was killed by police at the scene, but only after fatally wounding Jackson, Gerald and Garofola and hospitalizing another BRPD officer and two more EBRSO deputies.

On July 8, three days after Alton Sterling was killed in Baton Rouge by police officers, and the day after the ambush on police officers that left five dead at a Black Lives Matter Rally in Dallas, Montrell Jackson wrote an emotional post on Facebook. He spoke of how he was hurt by some of the posts he'd seen by friends, family and fellow officers in the wake of the tragedies, and that he was grateful for the people who had reached out to him and his wife.

"I still love you all because hate takes too much energy, but I definitely won't be looking at you the same," he wrote. "I swear to God I love this city but I wonder if this city loves me. In uniform I get nasty hateful looks, and out of uniform some consider me a threat. I've experienced so much in my short life, and these last three days have tested me to the core. When people you know begin to question your integrity, you realize they don't really know you at all. Look at my actions, they speak LOUD and CLEAR."

Then he spoke to the others, on both sides of the line, who grieved right along with him.

"I personally want to send prayers out to everyone directly affected by this tragedy. These are trying times. Please don't let hate infect your heart," he said. "This city MUST and WILL get better. I'm working in these streets so any protesters, officers, friends, family, or whoever, if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer, I got you."

Jackson's connection to Mississippi is not the only one. Not only are Louisiana and Mississippi neighbors, there are a lot of transplants from state to state. Pearl Police Department investigator Chris Picou is one. He grew up in Baton Rouge, and knew Garafola.

"It hits home for me because where this shooting took place is where I grew up," he said. "The Dallas tragedy was tough, but this happened in an area I grew up in, to someone I grew up with."

Picou said the Baton Rouge he knew was a more peaceful one. Before he moved away in 1986, "there was no separation there. When we competed in sports we had some rivalries, but you didn't have all of this. It was a different time."

Garafola's brother Brett and Picou played little league sports together, Picou said, and they went to high school together. He remembers Garafola as a young man.

Picou maintains contacts and friendships in Baton Rouge, not just with people he grew up with, but people he has worked with as a K9 officer and when he and former Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis instituted the MACE program based on Baton Rouge's BRAVE program. Those programs target street violence prevention.  One friend at the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office told Picou last week, before Sunday's violence, that the protests by Baton Rouge residents were peaceful.

"He said they weren't having problems with protesters from inside Baton Rouge, that they're peaceful and just exercising their First Amendment rights," he said. "But they've noticed these groups from outside the area were trying to antagonize, and he was worried about the outside influences."

Fred Jackson worked as a Michigan assistant football coach from 1992 to 2014, holding various titles, including running backs coach, associate head coach, assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. Prior to Michigan, Jackson also coached at the University of Toledo, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of South Carolina, Purdue University and Vanderbilt University. In 2001 he was selected as American Football Coaches Association National Assistant Coach of the Year for Division 1-A.

In November 2015, Fred Jackson was named Ypsilanti High School head coach while also serving as the school's dean of students.

Fred Jackson has not responded to requests for comment.