Nick Tullier: Baton Rouge Ambush, Recovery, and Memorials

Nick Tullier was an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputy who was shot three times and critically wounded in the July 17, 2016, ambush that killed three other Baton Rouge law enforcement officers. He survived catastrophic brain injuries for nearly six years before dying on May 5, 2022, at age 46. His death was officially classified as a line-of-duty death stemming from the ambush, and he was posthumously promoted from corporal to sergeant.¹²

Tullier grew up in Denham Springs, Louisiana, played high school football, and had served 18 years with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office at the time of the attack. He was 41 years old, the father of two sons, and engaged to Danielle McNicoll.³¹

What Happened on July 17, 2016

On the morning of July 17, 2016, officers responded to reports of a man walking along Airline Highway in Baton Rouge carrying a rifle, near a B-Quik gas station at 9611 Airline Highway. The man was Gavin Eugene Long, a 29-year-old former Marine from Kansas City, Missouri, who had traveled to Baton Rouge days earlier. When officers arrived, Long opened fire.⁴

Baton Rouge Police Corporal Montrell Jackson and Officer Matthew Gerald were killed in the initial gunfire. East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Garafola was killed trying to confront the shooter. Tullier, then a corporal, was shot three times. Two other officers were hit: BRPD Corporal Chad Montgomery was grazed by a bullet to the head, and EBRSO Lieutenant Bruce Simmons was shot in the arm trying to reach Tullier. A special response team killed Long minutes after the attack began.⁴⁵

The ambush came less than two weeks after Baton Rouge police fatally shot Alton Sterling outside a convenience store on July 5, 2016, and ten days after a sniper killed five police officers at a protest in Dallas. In the days before the attack, East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux had warned publicly of “very real and viable threats” against local law enforcement.⁶⁷⁸

His Injuries and Years of Recovery

One bullet lodged in the back of Tullier’s head, causing severe brain stem damage. The other two struck his abdomen and shoulder.³ His heart stopped four times in the first 24 hours at the hospital, and doctors repeatedly told his family he would not survive the day. He underwent more than 12 surgeries to repair internal organ damage and spent four months at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.⁹

On November 16, 2016, Tullier was transferred to TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston for specialized treatment in the hospital’s Disorders of Consciousness Program. Doctors there determined he had suffered an anoxic brain injury from the cardiac arrests, in addition to extensive traumatic damage to the left side of his brain. Physicians initially expected him to remain in a vegetative state. By late 2016, his medical team confirmed he was fully conscious and aware of his surroundings. He could read, hear, and communicate using head nods for yes and no.¹⁰

Tullier participated in up to four hours of physical, occupational, speech, and music therapy a day. By March 2017, he was lifting himself up on his forearms and relearning to walk and speak.¹¹ His physician, Dr. Sunil Kothari, said no one recovers fully from such severe brain injury but that Tullier was “outstripping our expectations.”⁹ In October 2017, he was moved to the Transitional Learning Center in Galveston, Texas, to continue rehabilitation.¹²

His parents, James and Mary, and his fiancée Danielle McNicoll took turns sleeping at the hospital. The family’s home in Denham Springs was destroyed in the August 2016 Louisiana floods, and his parents lived in a recreational vehicle near the hospital to stay close.¹³

His Death in 2022

Nick Tullier died on May 5, 2022, nearly six years after the ambush. He was 46. Funeral services were held on May 10, 2022, at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, with visitation at 10 a.m. and the service at 1 p.m. A procession followed to Evergreen Memorial Park in Denham Springs, where he was buried with full honors. The services were open to the public. He was survived by his parents, two sons, two brothers, and five nephews.¹⁴¹

Memorials in His Name

In May 2023, during National Police Week, Tullier’s name was added to the national memorial wall in Washington, D.C., honoring law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. The Nick Tullier Strong Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Livingston, Louisiana, raised funds to cover the family’s travel to the ceremony.¹⁵

On June 10, 2025, Louisiana Senate Bill 190 was signed into law, designating the stretch of Airline Highway between 9607 and 9000 Airline Highway as the “Jackson, Gerald, Garafola, and Tullier Memorial Highway” in honor of all four officers killed as a result of the 2016 ambush.¹⁶ A highway sign marking the designation was unveiled on October 15, 2025, at the site of the attack.¹⁷

The Lawsuit Filed on His Behalf

In July 2017, a federal lawsuit was filed on Tullier’s behalf against Black Lives Matter and five of its leaders, including activist DeRay Mckesson, alleging the defendants had incited the violence that led to the ambush.¹⁸ A three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the dismissal of the suit on August 15, 2018, ruling that the complaint failed to state a plausible claim for relief.¹⁹ A separate suit filed on behalf of an unnamed officer injured at an earlier Baton Rouge protest, Doe v. Mckesson, took a different procedural path and reached the U.S. Supreme Court twice; the Court denied Mckesson’s second petition on April 15, 2024.²⁰

1
Officer Down Memorial Page. Sergeant Nicholas W. Tullier
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Police1. La. Deputy Dies 6 Years After Shootout That Killed 3 Other Officers
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CNN. Beyond the Call: Baton Rouge’s Nick Tullier
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WAFB. Law Enforcement Agencies Honor Slain Officers on 8-Year Anniversary of Deadly 2016 Ambush
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The Advocate. Report on Ambush of Baton Rouge Law Officers to Include Extensive Audio-Visual Materials
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NBC News. Baton Rouge Police Ambush Follows Alton Sterling Shooting, Unrest
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New York Times. Gavin Long, Baton Rouge Shooter
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NPR. Gunman Who Ambushed Baton Rouge Officers Searched for Police Home Addresses
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Texas Medical Center. Wounded Baton Rouge Police Officer Makes Progress at TIRR Memorial Hermann
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Memorial Hermann. East Baton Rouge Deputy Nick Tullier Exceeding Expectations at TIRR Memorial Hermann
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WBRZ. Video Shows More Progress in Deputy Nick Tullier’s Recovery
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NOLA.com. Wounded Deputy Nick Tullier, in Major Sign of Progress, Moves to Texas Rehab Center
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The Advocate. In Houston Hospital, Wounded Deputy Nick Tullier’s Family Gathers to Celebrate Recovery’s Daily Battles
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WDSU. East Baton Rouge Officer Killed in Ambush Laid to Rest
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Unfiltered with Kiran. Tullier Family Honors Nick During Police Week in Washington D.C.
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WAFB. Part of Airline Highway Renamed After Law Enforcement Officers Killed in 2016 Ambush
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The Advocate. Nick Tullier Airline Highway Ambush Memorial Highway Sign Unveiled
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CBS News. Black Lives Matter Sued by Police Over Deadly Ambush in Baton Rouge
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Marin Independent Journal. Court Dismissal of Cops’ Black Lives Matter Lawsuit Is Just
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Supreme Court of the United States. Mckesson v. Doe, No. 23-373