LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / August 15, 2000

HAHNVILLE – An armed robbery attempted apparently went wrong, and a St.

Rose teen-ager died Saturday. Three LaPlace men are in custody, chargedwith attempted second-degree murder.

Capt. Patrick Yoes reported that Dominic Cecil Cooper, 19, 1945Williamsburg, John Christopher Armstrong, 17, 2808 Cambridge Drive, and Cody Ramon Brown, 17, 2808 Cambridge Drive, all of LaPlace, are in the parish jail, charged in the murder of Joshua Garland, 18, 5 Sweet Gum Drive, St. Rose.Yoes said early Saturday morning Garland and an unidentified 16-year-old boy paged the LaPlace teen-agers to meet at 5 a.m.The five met in the 100 block of East Club Drive in the Charlestowne subdivision of St. Rose. However, Yoes continued, Brown pulled a firearm inan attempt to rob Garland and the youth when they got into the trio’s 1998 Ford Expedition.

When that happened, Yoes said, Garland and the youth jumped from the truck, and Garland struck his head on the concrete. He died as a result of hisinjuries that evening at St. Charles Parish Hospital in Luling. The 16-year-oldescaped with minor injuries.

The LaPlace trio were captured later that morning on Evangeline Road in Montz, Yoes added.

An autopsy performed Monday confirmed that Garland died as a result of striking his head on the pavement and not from a gunshot as had been first guessed, according to Sheriff Greg C. Champagne.Cooper, Armstrong and Brown all were charged with second-degree murder and two counts of attempted armed robbery. Brown was also charged withpossession of a firearm with an altered serial number.

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