By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – The St. John the Baptist District Attorney’s Office announced Friday it received guilty pleas from two Reserve men in connection with a 2008 home invasion incident in Reserve in which the homeowner shot and wounded one of the suspects.

Tyja Cambre, 18, and Kerston Morgan, 21, each pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary charges during a March 15 court appearance in Edgard. St. John District Attorney Tom Daley said good police work by the St. John Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau combined with cooperative victims resulted in a strong case against the two defendants.

Cambre, who was 16 at the time of the incident, received a 25-year prison sentence for aggravated burglary, while Morgan was given a 22-year sentence for being a principal to aggravated burglary.

According to the initial report from the Sheriff’s Office, the two men, both armed with guns, broke down the door to a home on East 12th Street Extension around 5:25 a.m. on May 11, 2008.

Upon entry, the men encountered the homeowner, a 59-year-old man who was asleep in the home with his 57-year-old wife and 10-year-old grandson.

The report said one of the suspects repeatedly hit the man over the head with a gun while demanding money. At one point during the attack, the homeowner was able to retrieve his own handgun.

Gunfire was exchanged between the homeowner and the intruders, and one of the intruders, later identified as Cambre, was injured. The intruders then fled the scene. No one inside the home was injured in the shooting.

Sheriff Wayne Jones said Morgan was identified by the homeowner through a photographic lineup, while Cambre was tracked down in New Orleans after seeking medical attention for his gunshot wounds. Jones said the intruders may have followed the homeowner’s wife home from a Reserve truck stop casino, where she was playing video poker with a friend until about 3 a.m.