Two St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies, 34-year-old Brandon Nielsen and 27-year-old Jeremy Triche, were killed and two other deputies were wounded in a pair of related shootings early Thursday morning.
The wounded officers – Jason Triche and Scott Boyington – are hospitalized; they have been admitted into surgery and their exact condition has not been released, but they are expected to survive.
Five suspects are in custody. There are reports that two of the suspects were also shot and wounded, but Sheriff Mike Tregre has declined to confirm that detail. No formal charges have been filed against the suspects.
The first shooting happened just before 5 a.m. when Deputy Boyington was working a traffic detail on LA-3217, also called Bayou Steel Road, near US-61 (Airline Highway) when someone fired on his patrol car.
Deputy Boyington gave Sheriff’s investigators a description of the suspect’s vehicle, which was spotted and reported speeding a short time later. The search for the suspect led investigators to River View Trailer Court, where they located the vehicle and asked two men to come outside of a mobile home.
“When they were interviewing the two persons, the two subjects, another person exited that trailer with an assault weapon and ambushed, ambushed my two officers,” Sheriff Mike Tregre said, choking back tears.
Sheriff Tregre told WGNO News the investigation has been turned over to Louisiana State Police, which is standard protocol.
St. John Parish, along with Louisiana State Police, used SWAT teams, helicopters and search teams from both agencies to apprehend the at least two shooting suspects, according to LSP Sgt. Ann Dusang.
