HARVEY, La. — For several hours late Wednesday afternoon, a SWAT standoff with a wanted suspect along the West Bank Expressway frontage road tied up motorists and dozens of Jefferson Parish deputies before the suspect took his own life.
The chase that brought 45-year-old Orlando Montenegro to that intersection was relatively brief, but court records show that decades of criminal behavior fueled by mental health and substances abuse issues led him there.
“We had a suspect who was wanted for a simple kidnapping, a burglary and I want to say simple criminal damage from a few days ago,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said at the scene at the corner of Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey.
Lopinto was referring to a July 20 arrest warrant for Montenegro after receiving a complaint of kidnapping for allegedly forcing a domestic partner into his home in Marrero, then later firing a bullet at her house in Metairie.
Lopinto said deputies spotted and chased Montenegro at about 5 p.m., creating a tense scene before he ended his own life.
“From my view, looks like a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” Lopinto said.
Montenegro, an electrician by trade, had a criminal history stretching back more than two decades with multiple convictions in both Jefferson and Orleans parishes. Court records show convictions for drugs, burglary and DWI, along with repeated probation violations stemming from fresh arrests.
The records also show many cases delayed by mental health evaluations for competency and as many as six DWI arrests. Montenegro was scheduled to resolve a couple of those DWI in Jefferson Parish on Monday.
Criminal defense attorney Rick Teissier represented Montenegro in many of his earlier cases.
“The courts aren't in the business of trying to solve the issue of mental health and substance abuse when that's the underlying issue,” Teissier said.
Teissier said Wednesday's outcome was tragic, but not surprising.
“It sounds like there was a perfect storm of personal things going on, court things going on, mental health issues, substance abuse issues,” he said. “Which led to a horrible ending.”
A spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Coroner's office said an autopsy for Montenegro is scheduled for Friday.
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