SLIDELL, La. — One person died after being shot while allegedly attempting to steal a car in Slidell, according to the Slidell Police Department.
The incident happened on Saturday morning around 1 a.m. when police got a call of a suspicious person in the area.
The caller said they saw someone trying to break into a parked vehicle in an apartment complex. Police then got a second call reporting several gunshots fired near "1640 Town Center Parkway (The Masons Apartment Complex), possibly coming from a black SUV".
Detectives believe the four suspects tried to steal a Chevrolet Camaro from the apartment parking lot. The owner heard the car's alarm go off and confronted them. That's when an exchange of shots was fired between the car owner and the suspects. The car owner struck one of the suspects and they all drove off in a black Cadillac Escalade.
When Slidell Police arrived, they saw the Escalade turn onto Old Spanish Trail and tried to stop them, which led to a pursuit ending in New Orleans. Officers said the car stopped and three of the suspects got out and ran.
A police canine found one of them hiding underneath a raised house. Another was caught hiding behind a shed in the backyard of a home with a gun that was "discovered to be stolen," police said.
The third suspect was found dead in the back of the Escalade.
"Investigators with the Slidell Police Department determined that the four subjects, in the black SUV, traveled to the Slidell-area apartment complexes in order to steal vehicles," the department said in a release.
The fourth suspect turned himself in to police over the weekend.
Police identified the three suspects they arrested as 17-year-old Johvon Victor, 17-year-old Emon Starks, and 20-year-old Tedrine Jones.
Victor was charged with the following:
- Illegal Carrying of Weapons; Burglary Tools (Felony)
- Simple Burglary; Armed with Firearm (Felony)
- Aggravated Flight from an Officer (Felony)
Starks was charged with the following:
- Illegal Carrying of Weapons; Burglary Tools (Felony)
- Simple Burglary; Armed with Firearm (Felony)
- Aggravated Flight from an Officer (Felony)
- Illegal Possession of Stolen Firearms (Felony)
Police did not release information on Jones' charges.
Slidell Police said both Victor and Starks also have pending charges of Murder and Attempted Murder, as a result of their gunfire towards the owner of the vehicle, and as a result of their accomplice being killed during the commission of a felony.
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