The last text message a deputy sent his wife before he was shot to death

At about 7:30 a.m. Sunday, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's deputy Brad Garafola sent his wife a text message, "Good morning, my love."

It's something Tonja Garafola said her husband of 15 years did any time he was having a good day at work.

"That was my alarm clock. If I didn't get my 'good morning text' then it wasn't a good morning," she said Monday.

Garafola, 45, was fatally shot around 8:45 a.m. Sunday by a gunman who orchestrated an attack on police near the B-Quick convenience store on Airline Highway.

Garafola was working extra duty at the store when Baton Rouge police responded to a 911 call about a masked man who had been spotted walking down Airline Highway, toting a rifle.

The gunman, Gavin Eugene Long, 29, of Kansas City, Missouri, was shot and killed by police, but not before he shot and killed Garafola and two police officers. Long wounded three other officers during his attack.

East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said Monday the officers involved in the shootout "ran to the threat, not from the threat."

Garafola was taking cover behind a dumpster during the firefight when he saw a wounded Baton Rouge police officer make his way around the corner of a building, Gautreaux said.

Garafola left his protected position to try to help the injured officer. Long came around the building from the other side and shot Garafola, killing him, and then shot the wounded officer, killing him as well, the sheriff said.

"My deputy went down fighting," Gautreaux said. "Deputy Garafola died as a hero."

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This story was originally published July 23, 2016 at 1:11 PM with the headline "The last text message a deputy sent his wife before he was shot to death."