HARVEY, La. — Robenson LaFontant has a hard time believing what happened at his Harvey apartment complex Monday afternoon.
“This is a bullet hole right here,” said LaFontant pointing to a bullet hole in his wall. “I guess the bullet flew back there by that lamp right there.”
Just outside his front door is where Jefferson Parish deputies had a shootout Willis Thomas Jr., 31. Sheriff Joe Lopinto says he’s the man who gunned down two co-workers at FMT Shipyard Monday.
“He was targeting the people that were on his crew,” Lopinto said. “There were certainly other employees that were at the location, but he targeted the people that were on his crew.”
Lopinto says Thomas, who was recently fired from the shipyard, was tracked down about three miles away at St. Germaine Apartments where he lived, and then tried to escape.
“He actually picked up his firearm and started firing shots at our officers,” Lopinto said. “I have numerous officers that returned fire at that point in time.”
Thomas was killed in the shootout as bullets flew into LaFontant’s apartment. He’s thankful he picked up a shift at work Monday and wasn’t home.
“I spent three hours outside before I could walk into my apartment,” LaFontaine said.
He walked in and saw his patio glass door shattered, bullet holes through his walls and curtains, and his front door broken because officers busted in.
“Anybody can just push the door. It’s completely open,” LaFontant said.
LaFontant says he hasn’t been able to sleep and feels like the apartment complex and sheriff’s office have left him to fend for himself.
“Nobody, they never come here or call me to see, ‘Robenson what are you doing, did you find somewhere to go, are you staying in the apartment,’” LaFontant said.
LaFontant is still left wondering what to do, because much like the glass on his patio door, his sense of peace is shattered.
“Every time I look at those bullet holes in here, I just feel like packing all my things and leave,” LaFontant said. “I really don’t feel safe.”
The two men who were killed at the shipyard are Nakie Brown, 48, and Dustin Parrie Jr., 20, both of Harvey. They were both contract workers. Family members of Brown told Eyewitness News he loved his job and leaves behind three kids.
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