By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Authorities in St. John the Baptist Parish arrested a LaPlace man on attempted murder charges early Sunday after he allegedly shot and seriously wounded another man outside of a home in a Cambridge Drive neighborhood.

Michael J. Oney, 23, of 3028 Concordia Drive, stood in the doorway of his home and fired several gunshots from an assault rifle at a 41-year-old LaPlace man, said Capt. Dane Clement, a public information officer for the St. John Sheriff’s Office. Clement said the two men had been arguing prior to the shooting, but investigators have not determined the reason.

Clement said deputies were called to the scene around 4:50 a.m. following a complaint of a shooting near the 700 block of Revere Drive in LaPlace. When they arrived, the victim’s wife told deputies her husband was hit in the right arm by shots fired from a house on Concordia Drive, identified as Oney’s residence.

Deputies secured the residence and called for the occupants to exit the home. Clement said Oney and two others who were not involved in the shooting came outside without incident.

Authorities searched the home and recovered an AR-15 assault rifle along with several spent bullet casings.

Clement said Oney fired several shots and then went back inside his home as the victim, who was not identified, fled the scene toward a relative’s house on Yorktowne Drive. From there, family members drove the victim to River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace, where he was stabilized. He was later transferred to University Hospital in New Orleans, where he received further treatment.

A Sheriff’s Office report said about six bullets from Oney’s gun also struck a residence and a vehicle across the street from his home. Clement said bullet casings were found in several parts of the neighboring residence, but no one inside was hurt.

Oney was arrested at the scene and booked with attempted second-degree murder, aggravated criminal damage to property and illegal use of a weapon. He is being held at the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace in lieu of a $225,000 bond.