Police: 'We will not rest' until Louisiana cop shooting suspect is found

SHREVEPORT, La., Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Police widened their search for a 27-year-old man accused in the Wednesday night shooting death of Shreveport Police Officer Thomas LaValley, pledging not to rest until the "coward" is caught.

LaValley, 29, was gunned down while responding to a call of a suspicious person in the Queensborough neighborhood of Shreveport about 9:15 p.m. He later died at a local hospital. More than 70 police officers descended on the area, but the suspect, Grover Cannon, 27, eluded capture.

"We will scour the earth and wherever he goes we will find him," Shreveport Police Chief Willie Shaw said Thursday. "There is nowhere that he can go. There is nothing that he can do to stop us from bringing him to justice. We will not rest. He is nothing to me but a coward."

Local police, sheriff's deputies, the U.S. Marshals and the Louisiana State Police have joined the search for Cannon, who is also wanted in connection to a July 15 shooting.

LaValley was with the Shreveport police since 2011 and graduated at the top of his police academy class, police said.

Late Wednesday, the Caddo Parish Constable's Office posted condolences on Facebook.