LAPLACE, La. —
Two sheriff’s deputies in Louisiana were shot to death and two others were injured in an early morning shootout west of New Orleans, authorities said Thursday.
Five people — both male and female — are in custody, and two of them are hospitalized, authorities said.
They said both wounded deputies and both wounded suspects are expected to survive.
Police would not identify the suspects, say when they might do so, or give any details about the number of weapons used. No charges had been filed against them as of late Thursday afternoon.
“I had two officers ambushed — I even want to say assassinated,” St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Michael Tregre said at an afternoon news conference.
Earlier, Tregre said tearfully that the incident started about 5:30 a.m., when a gunman opened fire for unknown reasons on a deputy working an off-duty job along a highway that connects U.S. Highway 61 with the busy industrial corridor along the Mississippi River. That deputy was wounded.
Tregre said someone called deputies with a description of a car fleeing the scene, and officers tracked it to a nearby mobile home park.
When officers found the car, they handcuffed a suspect outside a mobile home, then knocked on its door. Tregre said someone with a dog answered.
“Another person exited that trailer with an assault weapon and ambushed my two officers,” Tregre said. Two deputies were killed and a third was wounded.
Two suspects were wounded in the shootout before officers subdued them, Tregre said.
The slain deputies were identified as Brandon Nielsen, 34, and Jeremy Triche, 27. The wounded officers are Jason Triche, 30, and Michael Boyington, 33, identified as the first one shot. They were being treated at area hospitals but the extent of their injuries was not known.
The Triches were related, Tregre said, though he did not know how. It remained unclear where Jason Triche was shot.
Tregre said Nielson is survived by his wife and five children, and Jeremy Triche by his wife and 2-year-old son.
“There were more than 20 gunshots,” said Col. Mike Edmonson, head of Louisiana State Police, which investigates shootings in which other Louisiana law-enforcement agencies are involved.
The initial shooting occurred at a parking lot off Louisiana Highway 3217 used by workers in the industrial area about 20 miles west of New Orleans, near the line between St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes. A massive grain port also is nearby. There is heavy traffic in the area as shifts change at plants and port facilities.
Bill Day, spokesman for Valero Energy Corp., said one of the deputies was providing security for the off-site parking lot used by contractors working at the Valero St. Charles Refinery.
Day said operations at the refinery had not been affected. Valero employees were being asked to report to work as normal, unless they park at the lot where the incident took place.
Some other plants in the area were letting non-essential workers in the area leave for the day or were telling them not to report for work as the search continued.
Police officers from throughout metro New Orleans rushed to the scene after the shootings in anticipation of a possible manhunt.
Tregre said an active search for suspects was no longer under way.
Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered the state flags flown at half-staff over the state Capitol and all public buildings and institutions until sunset Friday. The move, described as “an expression of respect for the four sheriff’s deputies,” was effective immediately, the governor’s order said.
National, International News
Related Photos
-
St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's deputies examine a car with bullet holes at a crime scene where two deputies were killed and two wounded in LaPlace, La.
Discussion
Two deputies dead, two hurt in La. shootout
- National, International News
-
-
Bombs targeting Sunnis kill at least 76 in Iraq
Bombs ripped through Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas Friday, killing at least 76 people in the deadliest day in Iraq in more than eight months. The major spike in sectarian bloodshed heightened fears the country could again be veering toward civil war.
-
Tornado-ravaged Texas town to start recovery
Residents whose homes were torn apart or blown away by a North Texas deadly tornado can soon return to retrieve what belongings may be left and start cleaning up, authorities said Friday.
-
Conn. commuter trains collide; 60 go to hospitals
Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday’s evening rush hour, sending 60 people to the hospital, including five with critical injuries, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.
-
Record Powerball jackpot inspires office pools
In workplaces across the nation, Americans are inviting their colleagues to chip in $2 for a Powerball ticket and a shared daydream.
-
Today in History for Saturday, May 18, 2013
Today is Saturday, May 18, the 138th day of 2013. There are 227 days left in the year.
-
Big retailers back safety accord in Bangladesh
Some of the world’s largest retailers have agreed to a first-of-its-kind pact to improve safety at some of Bangladesh’s garment factories following a building collapse that killed more than 1,100 workers in the country last month.
-
Amtrak unveils locomotives to replace aging fleet
Amtrak has unveiled at a plant in California the first of 70 new locomotives, marking what the national passenger railroad service said it hopes will be a new era of better reliability, streamlined maintenance and more energy efficiency.
-
Police ID suspect in New Orleans mass shooting
Police late Monday identified a 19-year-old man as a suspect in the shooting of about 20 people during a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans, saying several people had identified him as the gunman captured by surveillance camera videos.
-
Obama tries to swat down 2 swirling controversies
President Barack Obama tried to swat down a pair of brewing controversies Monday, denouncing as “outrageous” the targeting of conservative political groups by the federal IRS but angrily denying any administration cover-up after last year’s deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
-
Gov’t obtains wide AP phone records in probe
The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news.
- More National, International News Headlines
-
