By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

HAHNVILLE – St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s authorities have arrested a second suspect in connection the May shooting death of 19-year-old Jared Mealey of St. Rose.

Leslie Reed, 19, of 500 Mockingbird Lane, St. Rose, turned himself in Thursday at around 9:30 p.m. at the St. Charles Sheriff’s Office in Luling, said Sgt. Dwayne LaGrange, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office. LaGrange said Reed was booked with second-degree murder and is being held without bond at the Nelson Coleman Correctional Facility.

LaGrange said Mealey’s murder, the first homicide of the year in St. Charles, is still under investigation. He said investigators are not releasing what led up to the shooting death at this time.  

According to a Sheriff’s Office report, Mealey was found shot multiple times inside a Chevy Impala in the 600 block of Turtle Creek Road in the Preston Hollow neighborhood around 8:40 p.m. on May 29. Mealy had bullet wounds to his neck and face and was pronounced dead at the scene.

When deputies got to Mealey’s car, it had run over a mailbox and had come to rest against a nearby fire hydrant. Authorities said the windows on the driver’s side of the car were shattered, and responding deputies found Mealey sitting in the driver’s seat.

Deputies have also arrested 16-year-old Keywine “Poppa” Bradford, 126 First St., St. Rose, in connection with the investigation. Bradford turned himself in last Wednesday and is being held at the St. James Youth Detention Center.

LaGrange said detectives are continuing to follow additional leads in the homicide, but he said it was uncertain whether more arrests would be made in the case. He would not say how Reed or Bradford were found to be suspects or what the motive might have been.

Anyone with information is asked to contact St. Charles Sheriff’s Office Detective Brad Walsh at 985-783-6807 or Crimestoppers at 1-877-903-STOP.