Victim of Cambridge shooting now implicated in the crime

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 3, 2011

By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A Reserve man who was the victim of a July 23 shooting in LaPlace was arrested after St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff’s investigators learned he also may have fired a weapon in the same incident.

Carl Cosey, 29, of Reserve was charged with attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, said Capt. Dane Clement, spokesman for the St. John Sheriff’s Office. He is being held at the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace on a $600,000 bond.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the shooting occurred around 12:35 a.m. at the intersection of Cambridge Drive and Penn Drive. Deputies on patrol in the area heard gunshots and later found Cosey in the 700 block of Colony Drive with a gunshot wound to the right arm. He was treated and released from University Hospital

Cosey told deputies he was driving on Cambridge Drive and stopped at a stop sign at Penn Drive when a man approached his vehicle, pulled out a handgun and opened fire. He then drove away from the intersection to escape.

Two days later, authorities arrested 34-year-old Juan Alexander of LaPlace in connection with the shooting. Alexander was charged with attempted murder and illegal carrying of weapons.

Clement said both Cosey and Alexander are convicted felons, and neither should have been carrying a weapon.

The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with additional information regarding the shooting should call St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives at 985-359-8769 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.