NEW ORLEANS — Three Tangipahoa Parish residents were arrested last night after shooting at Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's deputies and injuring a police dog.
Just before 10:00 PM last night, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office (TPSO) received calls of two suspicious males walking around with a gun in the Bedico Creek Lane Trailer Park off of CC Road in Bedico, a small community east of Ponchatoula.
Deputies arrived in the area and were immediately shot at by the subjects. As one deputy tried to arrested 52-year-old James Loyd, a K9 unit was dispatched when the other subject, 21-year-old Thomas Loftis, fired numerous shots, hitting the K9 Bella in the jaw.
The two subjects ran into the woods and barricaded themselves inside a camper on CC road.
The TPSO Special Response Team (SRT) responded, along with the Hammond Police Department and Louisiana State Police SWAT teams and began negotiation efforts. At one point, 73-year-old Charlotte O'Reagan, exited the home and told deputies to "come back tomorrow".
When negotiations failed, deputies deployed a chemical agent into the camper and all three subjects exited and were arrested just after 2:00 Sunday morning.
Loftis has been charged with two counts of Attempted First Degree Murder and one count of injuring a police animal. Both Loyd and O'Reagan were charged with two counts of Accessory to Attempted First Degree Murder and Loyd was also charged with Resisting an Officer by Force or Violence.
"K9 Bella also put her life on the line last night to protect her partner. She performed her duties flawlessly and took a suspect's bullet which may have been intended for one of our deputies," said Chief Jimmy Travis.
"While we expect her to make a fully physical recovery, it's our hope she will also return to duty as some K9s are unable to do so after an injury involving gunfire. We love our K9s as members of the TPSO family and wish K9 Bella a speedy return to health."
