LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / March 13, 2000

LULING – A 17-year-old Luling boy, arrested on five counts of attempted murder, attempted suicide in the St. Charles Parish jail Monday and is nowrecovering.

Capt. Patrick Yoes reported that Michael S. Linder, 507 Ellington Ave., had aconfrontation with a group of teen-agers at one of the weekend parades in St. Charles Parish and invited the group to come to his house later “to finishwhat they started.”At 12:58 a.m. Monday, a silver, two-door 1992 Honda Prelude containing thetwo boys, ages 19 and 18, and three girls, ages 18, 17 and 16, arrived at the residence, and the confrontation continued.

Neighbors heard the commotion and one stepped out to allegedly see Linder yell: “If you don’t leave in 10 seconds, I’ll start shooting.”Moments later, the witness told authorities, Linder lifted an assault rifle and fired six rounds. One of the shots struck the vehicle; none of the intendedvictims were struck.

Deputies responding to the neighbor’s call rounded up both the carload of teen-agers and Linder, who initially claimed to know nothing about the incident.

“He denied having any knowledge of anything,” Yoes commented. “He wasn’tcooperating.”Linder was charged with one count of aggravated criminal damage to property and five counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Yoes said the teen was discovered at 3:28 p.m. hanging by his shoelaces inhis cell and was quickly cut down and his pulse and breathing restored. “Itwas a matter of minutes,” Yoes added.

Linder was taken to St. Charles Parish Hospital for treatment of his injuries.”He wasn’t perceived as a suicide risk,” Yoes said.

The assault rifle used in the shooting was recovered, but the owner of the weapon has not been identified.

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