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LAPLACE — On September 14, 2022, St. John Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre made a special donation in honor of Deputy Brandon Nielsen who was shot and killed in LaPlace August 12, 2012 by members of a domestic terrorist group. Deputy Nielsen, a motorcycle officer for the St. John Sheriff’s Office, was shot while investigating an earlier ambush shooting by the group that wounded a sheriff’s office investigator.

Sheriff Tregre and Nielsen’s parents, Wendy and Steve, planned the donation of Deputy Nielsen’s agency-issued motorcycle to the Deputy Brandon J. Nielsen Memorial Foundation on his 45th birthday, September 14, 2022.

Sheriff Tregre handed over the keys to the bike to the Nielsens, who are the creators of the foundation, which provides financial assistance for law enforcement families and other first responders and up-to-date training for police officers.

Sheriff Tregre said he felt it would be an honorable act for Deputy Nielsen to donate his bike, which will serve to recognize the selfless service of police officers and will be used by the foundation to help raise money for police officers and their families as well as for training for officers.

To celebrate Deputy Nielsen’s birthday, everyone also enjoyed a chocolate cake, his favorite.