St. John police arrest youth for shooting train engineer

Published 12:00 am Monday, October 25, 1999

ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / October 25, 1999

LAPLACE- The St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested a 14-year oldboy in connection with a shooting last Sunday night that wounded an Illinois Central train engineer.

According to Capt. Mike Tregre of the sheriff’s office, the 51-year-oldengineer was guiding his train through LaPlace around 8:40 p.m. Betweenthe streets of Walnut and Robin, the engineer was hit by something in his upper right shoulder.

“People throw rocks at the trains all the time, and he thought that is what it was,” said Tregre.

However, the conductor noticed a hole in the engineer’s shirt, and that is when they saw he had been shot. The engineer took the train all the way toReserve and notified the authorities about the incident.

The engineer was taken to River Parishes Hospital, treated and released.

Sheriff deputies and agents with the Illinois Central Railroad then began an investigation of the shooting.

After checking the computer records, deputies discovered there had been three previous complaints earlier in the day of juveniles firing guns from the same area along the tracks.

Deputies and railroad agents began to question juveniles in the area. In thewoods around the railroad tracks deputies discovered lots of dead birds and squirrels. They finally found a boy who said, “I didn’t shoot thatengineer,” without being prompted by the police.

Upon further questioning, the boy led police to the perpetrator, who was brought into the sheriff’s office with his parents.

The boy admitted to shooting at the engineer.

“The perpetrator and two of his friends were in the woods looking for rabbits,” recounted Tregre. “When they couldn’t find any rabbits, theywanted to see if the kid could hit the engineer. He was actually aiming forthe engineer.”A .177 pellet gun was confiscated from the boy. He had been given the gunas a gift the Friday before the shooting.

To show the boy how serious his actions were, deputies test-fired the pellet rifle at a penny. The pellet put a hole in the penny.”This is one powerful pellet gun,” Tregre said. “If that boy had aimed alittle bit higher, he might have killed the man.”The boy was then charged with aggravated obstruction of a highway of commerce. His actions endangered a human life and the penalty is amaximum of 15 years in prison.

The boy’s two companions may face criminal trespassing charges.

“It is trespassing to be on the railroad tracks or near them, and we will arrest people for walking on the tracks,” warned Tregre.

Because a train was involved in the incident, the sheriff’s office had to inform the FBI of the shooting. However, the FBI was satisfied with howthe incident was handled and will not come in to take over the case.

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