By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur 

LAPLACE – Authorities in St. John the Baptist Parish are looking for suspects in connection with a shooting in Reserve Thursday evening that left a 16-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the arm.

According to Capt. Dane Clement, public information officer for the St. John Sheriff’s Office, deputies on regular patrol in Reserve reported multiple gunshots in the area of East 29th Street and River Road around 11:20 p.m. Thursday. They then spotted two males running south on East 29th Street and turning west onto River Road.

“Just a few minutes after that, our 911 operators got a call from a residence on Chad B. Baker Street saying a 16-year-old was shot in the arm,” Clement said. “The patrol deputies responded to the location and found the victim conscious and alert.”

Clement said the victim did not provide deputies with any information about the incident, only that “he didn’t see anything.” Clement said deputies did learn the victim was shot while riding in the back seat of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. He said the driver told investigators the car was fired on as it traveled south on East 29th Street toward River Road.

“Once shots were fired, the driver stopped the car and the occupants fled to the Chad B. Baker Street residence,” Clement said. “No one else was injured in the shooting.”

Clement said the victim was transported to River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace and later transferred to University Hospital in New Orleans. Clement said the boy was released from the hospital over the weekend.

Clement said one of the suspects seen by deputies was wearing a white T-shirt and dark colored shorts. The other man was wearing a gray and black stripped hooded sweatshirt and dark colored pants.

Anyone with information should call St. John Detective Staty Lewis at 985-359-8769, or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.