Update: LaPlace teen arrested after school bus shot with BB gun

Published 1:39 pm Monday, April 6, 2015

LAPLACE — The 17-year-old LaPlace male who police believe shot a BB gun at an occupied St. John the Baptist Parish school bus was arrested Saturday.

Quincy Singleton

Lt. Dane Clement said authorities are not releasing a possible motive for the shooting, but added police do not believe a specific student was targeted.

St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre said deputies responded to the intersection of Belle Pointe Boulevard and Hebert Drive at 8:28 p.m. Saturday following the report of a group of individuals possibly selling narcotics at the intersection.

When the first deputy arrived, the individuals dispersed, and the deputy saw three subjects trying to hide behind a house, Tregre said.

“A computer check on the three subjects revealed that one of the subjects — identified as Quincy Singleton, 17, of River Pointe Drive — was wanted on an outstanding warrant,” Tregre said in a release. “Upon his arrest, deputies recovered three bags of marijuana, a $30 value, from the pocket of Singleton’s jacket. Deputies booked Quincy Singleton on the arrest warrant for aggravated criminal damage to property and possession of marijuana.

He remains in jail in lieu of an $11,500 bond.”

Clement said the other two individuals hiding behind the house were not arrested and cooperated with authorities.

Detectives identified Singleton last week as the suspect wanted in connection with the school bus window shooting, which took place at 2:47 p.m. March 26 at the intersection of Hebert Drive and Breaux Drive in LaPlace.

At the time of the shooting, several students occupied the school bus, Tregre said, adding no one was injured. Based on the findings of the investigation, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Singleton for aggravated criminal damage to property.

School District officials said there were approximately 35 students on the bus in grades kindergarten through eighth from East St. John Elementary when the shooting took place.

The bus driver told deputies when she stopped to let students off the bus, she heard children in the back of the bus yell, “He shot the bus,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies found a window on the bus shattered.

“The incident scared several students on the bus, but none of the students were injured,” a release said.

“(The bus driver) saw a male subject running away from the area wearing a grey-hooded sweatshirt and black pants. The bus driver told deputies that student passengers were visibly shaken and terrified.”

— By Gladys Davis Mulkey