By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Authorities in St. John the Baptist Parish arrested an Edgard man Friday on attempted murder charges after he allegedly shot and seriously wounded a Wallace man outside an Edgard bar, according to a release from the Sheriff’s Office.

Johnell W. Milton, 36, of 203 Second St., turned himself in around 4 p.m. Friday, said Dane Clement, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office. Milton was charged with attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the incident, which occurred around 1:30 a.m. Friday. Milton is being held at the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace on a $300,00 bond set by Judge Sterling Snowdy.

According to a report from the Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called out to a bar in the 100 bock of Bailey Lane after reports of a shooting in the parking lot. While en route to the bar deputies were told the victim, a 26-year-old man, was taken to an ambulance facility in Edgard, Clement said.

The victim was shot once in the left chest and once in the left forearm, Clement said. He was transported to St. James Hospital and later transferred to LSU Interim Hospital in New Orleans, where his condition was still unknown Tuesday.

When investigators arrived back at the bar, no one other than bar personnel was at the scene, Clement said. After speaking with the victim and witnesses, authorities learned Milton had returned to the bar just before the shooting after having been there earlier in the evening. 

The report from police said Milton approached the victim, who was sitting in the driver seat of his vehicle, and fired shots at him. As the victim drove away, the shooter fired more shots toward the vehicle. 

When the shooting stopped, bystanders in the parking lot went to help the victim and eventually drove him to an Acadian Ambulance facility in his own vehicle, Clement said.

Sheriff’s detectives still do not have a motive for the shooting, which is still under investigation, Clement said. Anyone with any information should contact Detective Ann Capps at 985-652-8769 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.�