KENTWOOD, La. — A few days after a teenager was shot and killed in Hammond, the suspect, 26-year-old Tommie Diamond, also died. Diamond was located through an ankle monitor he was wearing stemming from the 2020 killing of Zion Hutcherson, a young mom from Baton Rouge.
Hutcherson was killed at Roseland Trails. Diamond was out on a $350,000 bond.
“With him, the judge set a $350,000 bond, which is pretty significant and he was able to get a commercial bail bondsman to post bail and get released. Pretty much 99 percent of the people arrested do receive bonds it’s just a matter of how much and do they have the resources to make bond,” Tangipahoa Parish Chief Jimmy Travis said.
Using the ankle monitor they tracked Diamond to a home in Kentwood Thursday, after he allegedly shot and killed 18-year-old Calvin Felton. According to Travis, Diamond allowed everyone else to exit the house. Deputies spent about four hours trying to get Diamond out.
“During that time he kept basically making comments that we was going to commit suicide by cops, he wanted to die, he was going to take his life, he wasn’t going to jail,” Travis said.
They lost communication with the 26-year-old, then heard a gunshot. The Sherriff’s office then sent in drones and discovered Diamond’s collapsed body from what they believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“Our whole intent when we went out there was to peacefully apprehend him and take him into custody where he’ll face the charges and not get into this type of situation,” Chief Travis said.
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