Father killed by son over car
Published 12:00 am Friday, February 20, 2004
By LEONARD GRAY – Managing Editor
LAPLACE – Deputies arrived in the 1500 block of Belle Point Boulevard in LaPlace to find a grim sight.
On the ground, a man with two gunshot wounds sat bleeding, leaning against a car, incoherent and in critical condition.
From his bleeding right leg, a trail of blood led 186 feet, more than 60 yards, to a garage next door.
Less than two hours later, the man died, with his son and namesake charged with the homicide.
Capt. Michael Tregre of the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office reported the arrest of Edward Placide Jr., 29, of 1505 Belle Point Blvd., charged with second-degree murder.
This is the first homicide in St. John the Baptist Parish in 2004. According to past crime statistics, the parish averages three per year.
Tregre reported the cause of the shooting was an argument over the father’s use of another son’s grey 1998 Oldsmobile.
Deputies were called Tuesday at 11:50 p.m., and they found Edward Placide Sr., 57, lying in the roadway, having propped himself upright against a vehicle parked next door to his residence.
He was later discovered to have been shot twice in the right leg, above and below the knee.
A trail of blood from the nearly-dead man led 186 feet back to his garage.
There, witnesses told investigators the pair had argued over the use of a car in the middle of the house’s kitchen/living room.
The father reportedly hefted an iron fireplace poker during the argument, and the son responded, allegedly in self-defense, by firing a handgun twice in the direction of his father’s right knee.
The vehicle is registered to Corey Placide, another son of the shooting victim who is also a resident in the house and a witness to the shooting.
At the time, deputies could not locate the handgun used.
Placide Sr. was transported by Acadian Ambulance to River Parishes Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds at 1:11 a.m. Wednesday.
Placide Jr. was still at the scene and surrendered to authorities for booking.
His bond was set at $500,000 by 40th Judicial District Judge Mary Hotard Becnel.
