DANIEL TYLER GOODEN / L’Observateur / February 2, 2000

LUTCHER – Thursday, as he was standing on Main Street next to the Neighborhood Quick Stop, Jarmel Beckett, 27, was shot.

The bullet grazed across his stomach and hit him in his right arm.

Beckett, a resident of Lutcher, was rushed to St. James Parish Hospital,where he was treated and released.

He told sheriff’s deputies the shot came from a passing vehicle. He notedtwo people in the vehicle, an undisclosed juvenile passenger and a driver he recognized as Darrel Morris, 22, also of Lutcher.

Morris was immediately arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. He is being held atthe St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility, with bail set at$50,000.

The juvenile is being detained at the St. James Parish Youth Center.Though Beckett recognized Morris, which individual fired the shot has not been determined. St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin said Morris hasclaimed the youth fired the shot.

Investigators have not yet recovered the weapon and are continuing their investigation.

Martin said Lutcher has recently had an increase in reports of gunshots.

Many of the violations are of individuals firing into the air, while some of the complaints called in are from citizens who have been on the downward path of these bullets and have had them travel through their homes, said Martin.

The Sheriff’s Office is stepping up its coverage of Lutcher in order to better handle the problem, Martin said.

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