By BEN LUNDIN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – A routine fill-up at a LaPlace gas station turned into a frightening drive through St. John Parish when a man was carjacked at gunpoint and forced to drive the gunman down Airline Highway on Jan. 23.

The victim, a 21-year-old LaPlace resident, allegedly exited the Pilot Travel Center at approximately 9:30 p.m. and walked towards his 2005 Nissan Altima when he was threatened by a black male in a black hood sitting in the front passenger seat pointing a pistol at him, telling him to get in the car.

The victim sat in the driver’s seat and was ordered to drive north on Airline Highway. As the two continued on the highway the gunman spotted another man standing on the shouler of the highway, and ordered the victim to pick him up, according to the St. John Sheriff’s Office.

He drove both men northbound on Airline Highway when they allegedly told him, verbally and with the imposing power of gunpoint, to pull over and get out of the car, to which he complied.

He called the St. John Sheriff’s Office using a cell phone as he walked down the shoulder of Airline Highway near Peavine Road, and was picked up and taken to the station for questioning.

At 6:23 a.m. the following day, police discovered his car submerged in the Airline Highway canal near the Ruddock exit, but have not yet tracked down the suspects.