ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / April 5, 2000

EDGARD – A verbal argument outside an Edgard nightclub Saturday night ended in violence and the first homicide of the year for St. John the BaptistParish.

Three Vacherie men are in jail, charged with the second-degree murder of Brice Grows.

According to Capt. Michael Tregre of the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office, thedepartment received a call about a shooting in Edgard at 11:57 p.m.Saturday.

Deputies were dispatched and stopped along the way by a man complaining that there were bullet holes in his car. The man told police the suspects weredriving a white car west bound on River Road.

When the police got to the 100 block of East Sixth Street they found a crowd of people gathered around an injured man.

Grows, 22, of Edgard, was laying on the ground with two bullet wounds to his left leg, a bullet wound in his left arm and a bullet wound to the stomach.

Police called for the ambulance and detectives and began to apply first aid to the man.

Grows was transported to St. Charles Parish Hospital, where he waspronounced dead on arrival.

Meanwhile, a second man approached deputies and complained about bullet holes in his car. He also said the suspects were in a white car, and he gavethe license plate number to the police.

The St. John authorities notified the St. James Parish Sheriff’s office aboutthe car, and 15 minutes later a 1988 white Mercury Scorpion with two people inside was stopped by St. James Sheriff’s deputies. The two, 20-year-old Michael Patrick Johnson, 3221 Leno Drive, Vacherie, and 23-year-old Rory Gerard Weber, 3955 Harrison Lane, Vacherie, told police they had dropped off the shooter, Donald Favorite Jr., before theywere stopped. No weapon was found in the car, and the two men said theyhad thrown the gun out of the car.

Weber and Johnson were arrested and turned over to St. John authorities.A little while later, Favorite, 3908 First St., Vacherie, called the St. JamesSheriff’s Office and said he was going to turn himself in. St. James deputiesarrested Favorite and turned him over to the St. John Parish Sheriff’sOffice. The weapon, a Tech 9 semi-automatic assault weapon with a 30-roundclip, was also recovered.

According to witnesses and the three suspects, Grows and Brice got into a verbal argument outside the nightclub. Nobody is sure what the disagreementwas about, but it ended quickly without any violence.

As Favorite, Weber and Johnson were leaving, they said someone threw a rock that hit their car. Favorite, who was driving, saw Grows approaching thecar, reached for his gun and shot at Grows, hitting him four times.

Favorite’s shots also hit two cars. The suspects then fled the scene.Favorite has been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated criminal damage to property and illegal use of a firearm during a felony. Weber andJohnson were each charged with accessory to second-degree murder, after the fact. Johnson was also charged with obstruction of justice by simpleassault.

The three suspects are in the St. John Correctional Facility. Johnson is beingheld on a $150,000 bond and Weber on a $100,000 bond. Judge MadelineJasmine did not set a bond for Favorite.

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