By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Authorities in St. John the Baptist Parish are investigating a shooting and an armed robbery, which both took place over the weekend in LaPlace neighborhoods.

Capt. Dane Clement, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said neither incident is related. The shooting occurred Sunday and the robbery Saturday.

Clement said a 51-year-old LaPlace man was shot in the arm while walking on Elm Street at about 7:55 p.m. Sunday. Clement said deputies patrolling the area heard gunshots in the area of Elm Street and Carmichael Court, and 911 operators received calls of shots fired around that same time.

The responding deputies found the victim near the intersection with a wound to his left arm. He was transported to University Hospital in New Orleans, where his condition is not known.

The victim told deputies he was walking on Elm Street when a dark-colored four-door car pulled up next to him and shots were fired from the vehicle. The man said he began running from the area when he felt he had been shot. Clement said the man could not give deputies any possible suspects or motive in the shooting.

There were no other injuries in the shooting, but detectives discovered that two occupied residences on Carmichael Court had been struck by bullets. Clement said witnesses told deputies that they heard six to eight shots fired at the time of the shooting.

In the robbery, Clement said deputies responded to the 700 block of Madewood Drive in LaPlace at about 11:45 p.m. Saturday, where they met with a 24-year-old male victim who said he and a friend were robbed.

The man told deputies he and his 20-year-old friend were sitting in his friend’s car talking when two male suspects dressed in dark hooded jackets approached the car on either side. The victim said one of the two suspects produced a silver-colored handgun and demanded money from them. The victim surrendered his cell phone and $4 cash, and the suspects fled the area on foot. He also said his friend fled the area in his vehicle before sheriff’s deputies arrived.

Anyone with information regarding either incident is asked to call St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives at 985-359-8769 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.