BOGALUSA, La. — It’s been a month and a half since Typolia Peters Sr. lost his oldest son Typolia Peters Jr., to gun violence.
“I’m still stuck in that phase where I’m looking at my son lifeless,” Peters said.
The 21-year-old was gunned down outside a Bogalusa apartment Aug. 8. No one has been arrested and Peters feels like his son’s case isn’t a priority.
“Oh man it hurts. It hurts dearly,” Peters said when asked about knowing his son’s killer hasn’t been caught. “It makes me feel like they’re just laughing at me, like ‘Ha, Ha, we killed your son.’”
So far this year, there have been 89 reported shootings in the small community. Of those, 19 people were shot. Five people were killed. Two murder cases remain unsolved.
“In my career here that’s one of the top numbers I can remember,” said Police Chief Kendall Bullen. “Normally our community may have one or two a year. We’ve gone some years without any.”
Chief Bullen says most of the victims and suspects are between the ages of 15 and 20. A 16-year-old was shot multiple times Monday. He survived and an 18-year-old suspect was caught.
“I come in every morning and I’m scared to look at the computer from another shooting that may have occurred the night before,” Bullen said.
“It’s reached a boiling point,” said District Attorney Warren Montgomery. “We have got to stand up and work together.”
Tuesday, parish and city leaders joined forces, pleading with the community to come forward with information. Bullen says a big problem though is legal access to case files being used as intimidation.
“I’ve seen Instagram posts of our police reports on people’s phones that are naming witnesses in cases. There’s a problem there,” said Bullen. “Defense attorneys have the right to our case files. Suspects during trial have a right to look at the files and that information gets out; people are scared to come forward.”
Bullen hopes new laws can put a stop that. Although faced with an issue of manpower at the police department, Bullen put together a violent crimes task force last week, involving the sheriff’s office and state police.
“We are going to be out in force as much as it takes. We’re going to do whatever we can to make this a safe community for people to live in,” Bullen said.
That’s exactly what Peters hopes for but isn’t sure the city can do it on its own.
“If this is happening every week, somebody getting shot or somebody’s house getting shot up, or they’re just shooting, they need help,” Peters said.
Help that Peters says can’t come soon enough.