Armed robbery and shootout in Tangipahoa Parish

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The sheriff of St. John Parish at the time was Sheriff Percy Hebert. Deputy Webre said it was at shift change approximately 10:30 p.m., and all the deputies were in the radio room when they received the call from Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office. Dispatch stated there had been an armed robbery in Ponchatoula and that the store owner had been shot. They also said that there had been a shootout at a roadblock on Highway 51, and the suspects had fled and were headed toward Laplace. Also stating that they thought several of the suspects had been shot. In 1973, there were only six deputies working, three would come on duty and three would get off. We also only had three units, so we paired off and put two deputies in each car. Deputy Jude Lions and Deputy Percy “Pappy” Terry would get into one unit. Deputy Raymond Nuccio and Deputy Ronald Amadee’ would take the second unit. Deputy Ken Webre and Deputy Leroy Accosta would jump into the third unit and proceed to Highway 51 headed north.

After about eight miles, I saw a man in the middle of Highway 51 waving his arms as if he were trying to flag me down. I stopped and the man came over to the car, covered in blood, we could see that he had been beaten and shot. He said that he was a night watchman and some subjects pulled into where he was. He had been beaten and shot and they took his car. Before leaving, the suspects set their car on fire, leaving a subject dead in the back seat. The night watchman gave us a description of his car, and I gave the information to the other deputies. In just a couple of minutes, Deputy Lions spotted the vehicle and was in pursuit. I told the night watchman that an ambulance had been called and for him to wait there until they arrived and that we had to leave. We went to assist Deputy Lions in the pursuit. At sometime during the pursuit the back window of the suspect’s vehicle was shot out and they wrecked.

As we drove up, Deputy Lions was fighting with one of the suspects and had to shoot the suspect in

the stomach with a double barrel shotgun. The other two suspects

in the vehicle gave up. St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office had put an end to this violent night. In the

end, eight persons had been shot and one killed. Most importantly all the law enforcements officers involved in this violent incident went home safely to their families and loved ones, with a little help from above.

Wayne Norwood is a lieutenant with the St. John thhe Baptist Sheriff’s Department and owner and operator of the Louisiana Treasures Museum.