Teasing leads to shooting in Edgard

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 10, 2010

By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Relentless teasing led to gunfire in Edgard Sunday afternoon between a 40-year-old man and his 30-year-old neighbor, but no charges were filed.

Capt. Dane Clement, public information officer for the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office, said authorities responded to the 100 block of West Third Street in Edgard about 12:06 p.m. Sunday after calls of a shooting in the area. He said when deputies arrived they found 40-year-old Barry Pierce, a resident of West Third Street, standing in the middle of the street.

When deputies questioned Pierce, he admitted to shooting his neighbor, 30-year-old Kippy Howard, also of West Third Street. Clement said deputies found Howard sitting in a lawn chair on his front lawn a few houses down with a gunshot wound to his left thigh.

According to a police report, Howard told deputies he had been “down on his luck” recently and that Howard had been teasing him about his situation all morning. Pierce said he had become so fed up with the taunting and antagonizing that he shot Howard with a .22 caliber rifle.

Howard was transported to Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released. Following treatment, Howard told deputies he did not wish to press charges against Pierce. Clement said both men were brought to the St. John Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division in LaPlace, where they were questioned about the incident and released.

Clement said once the Sheriff’s Office investigation is complete, detectives will forward a report to the District Attorney’s Office. Clement said no arrests were made.