LOCKPORT La. (WGNO) — Three teenagers were taken in for questioning when one of them allegedly pulled a toy gun on an off-duty Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy in the early hours of Monday, June 10.
According to the LPSO, around 1:30 a.m., a truck was spotted closely following behind the deputy in central Lafourche Parish. Suspicious, the deputy pulled into the LPSO Criminal Operations Center to investigate, still followed closely by the truck.
Once the two vehicles had come to a stop, a single passenger exited the truck and pointed what appeared to be a gun at the officer, before getting back in and driving away, raising the officer’s suspicions of the truck from something unusual to something criminal.
Investigating further, the situation was reported and several other deputies arrived to perform a traffic stop on the truck.
Inside, deputies said they found three teenagers, each with a gel blaster toy gun that had been painted to look like a real weapon. When questioning the teenagers about why they were following the off-duty deputy, it was found that they thought it was a friend’s vehicle they were following and were unaware that they were behind a police officer.
Though no charges have been filed yet, the investigation remains ongoing. Sheriff Craig Webre warned of the danger that this situation could have posed but was thankful that it ended as it did.
“Thankfully, this situation ended peacefully for all involved, but these teens’ mistake of thinking they were following friends could have had potentially deadly consequences. I urge everyone to use extreme caution when displaying firearms or realistic-looking weapons in public places, and never point a gun at anyone without legal justification. I also strongly recommend to never modify toy guns to look like an actual firearm.”
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