By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Authorities in St. John the Baptist Parish on Wednesday arrested a 25-year-old man accused of shooting a Reserve man in the early morning hours of May 25.

Damario Gray, also of Reserve, was arrested at an apartment in the 300 block of East 13th Street just after midnight Wednesday, said Capt. Dane Clement, spokesman for the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office. Clement said Gray resisted arresting deputies, who had a court-issued warrant.

Gray is accused of shooting a 33-year-old Reserve man in the 100 block of East 27th Street on May 25. The man, whose name was not released, was driving to work around 6:10 a.m. when the shooting occurred, Clement said.

According to a Sheriff’s Office report, the victim told deputies he had just left his residence on his way to work when a male suspect started shooting at him. The man said he could feel he had been struck with something, so he drove to the hospital.

Clement said the victim initially sought treatment at River Parishes Hospital but left the hospital against the advice of medical staff to seek treatment elsewhere. The man then went to University Hospital in New Orleans, where doctors told him that a projectile was lodged in the right side of his head next to his temple area.

It was not clear whether the projectile was a bullet fragment or other shrapnel. Clement said the man was treated and released.

Investigators also found three bullet holes in the victim’s car.

Through the course of the investigation, Gray was identified as the shooter, but his motive was not immediately clear, Clement said. Gray and the victim know each other but are not friends.

Clement said Gray was charged with attempted second-degree murder, illegal use of a weapon, aggravated criminal damage to property and resisting an officer. 

He is being held at the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace on a $281,500 bond.