There was a shoot-out in the early morning hours on Sunday at the Y-Not Stop and Domino’s in Ville Platte. Three non-life-threatening injuries were reported. At least one vehicle was riddled with bullets, and so was Domino’s.
According to a press release from the Ville Platte Police Department, on July 28, 2019 at approximately 2:44 a.m., officers with the Ville Platte Police Department responded to a report of shots fired at the Y-Not Stop in Ville Platte. Once there, officers discovered numerous shots had been fired from back-and-forth between Domino’s and the Y-Not Stop. City police, two Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Deputies, and a Louisiana State Trooper began clearing the parking lot and were informed two vehicles were damaged by bullets and two black males received injuries from gunfire. One male was shot in his lower torso and was transported to Bunkie General Hospital and later to Rapides Regional Medical Center. He was released later that day. The second male was injured by a fragment in his lower torso. He was treated at Mercy Regional Medical Center and later released. Multiple caliber casings were found in the area which indicated multiple shooters.
Detectives learned a black male wearing dark jeans and no shirt, entered the Y-Not Stop and was in possession of a firearm. Detectives are seeking information on the identity of this person as well as the identify of the driver of the white vehicle matching the description of the suspect vehicle. The vehicle may possibly have bullet holes in it.
Additionally, at approximately 3:45 a.m., officers were dispatched to an apartment complex in the 800 block of North Latour Street in reference to shots fired. Upon arrival, officers discovered two vehicles with damages received from bullets. Witnesses reported seeing a white, four-door SUV or truck in the area as shots were fired. At 5:30 Sunday evening, officers received a call that a black male was in the emergency room with a gunshot wound to his buttock area. The male was treated and released to follow up with a specialist. He also had multiple gun shot holes in his vehicle.
Bunkie Police Chief Scott Ferguson is assisting Ville Platte Detective Jessica Laborde with the investigation. According to Ferguson, Ledarius LeBlanc, age 20, of Opelousas, was one of the shooting victims from that night. LeBlanc was the passenger in a white Cheverolet pickup truck driven by Jaylan Mays, age 19, from Bunkie. Chief Ferguson said LeBlanc and the driver stated they were in the Domino’s parking lot standing outside the truck doing nothing when the shooting started. Ferguson described the condition of the pickup truck after the shooting, saying it looked like “it was shot up like Bonnie and Clyde, and the glass was all blown out.” LeBlanc was shot in the hip and taken to Bunkie General Hospital and eventually transferred to Rapides Regional Medical Center. The Chief said he believed the shooting could have been a dispute between Bunkie and Ville Platte groups.
Y-Not Stop perspective
According to two Y-Not Stop employees, who did not want to be named, the parking lot was full late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. One employee said, “The store was packed.” According to the overnight employees, the police could not arrive right away because officers were dealing with a fight at another part of town. Ville Platte Police Chief Neil Lartigue confirmed that officers, on their way to respond to crowd control complaints at the Y-Not Stop, had to stop a fight they saw happening at the Exxon station on Main Street. While they were stopping the fight, shots began at the Y-Not Stop.
Another Y-Not Stop employee said, “They even found shell casings by the propane tank.” He added, “They had people running through the store, out the back door, and hiding in the beer cooler. Customers were hiding in the storage area, too. They were shooting by the door, so it was real close, and everybody dropped. It’s amazing none of our windows shattered. They also had glass on the ground from somebody’s car window getting shot out.”
Amanda St. Romain, marketing director for St. Romain Oil Company, LLC, in an official statement on behalf of Annie Gauthier, co-owner of St. Romain Oil and Y-Not Stop Convenience Stores, said: “We are committed to refueling and refreshing our local community, and the safety of our team members and guests is critical to us. We are working with the Ville Platte Police Department to create a proactive, appropriate plan to minimize the risks of others’ unfortunate actions.”
Domino’s perspective
Domino’s co-manager, Tiffany Scott, said the other co-manager, Dottie Gabriel, had just left work when she heard the shots fired. Gabriel lives in the area and heard the shots at her house. “Every Saturday night at about 2 a.m. our entire parking lot is full,” said Gabriel. “We park in the back. We have to ask people to move to get out. We’re usually here until about 2:30.” Gabriel said Domino’s closes at 1 a.m. on the weekend. “When the bars close, they come here. I’m not going to tell them to leave because I don’t want a confrontation.”
Witnesses’
perspectives
One Ville Platte resident who lives in the vicinity said, “About 2:15 a.m. I was woken up by loud music. Both sides of the street were full of cars. I called the police department and asked the dispatcher to send an officer. She said they had someone there and they called the sheriff’s office to assist with one deputy and one city police officer on the scene. I called the sheriff’s office and asked them for the number for the State Police. I felt they could not handle the amount of people in the crowd because there were approximately 80-100 people. I called State Police and told them there’s a crowd that’s so big that our police cannot disperse it and no one can sleep with the loud music. State Police said they couldn’t send anyone out unless the city police called them. The dispatcher said she would make a note of my complaint.”
She continued as follows: “About 20 minutes later, I heard pow-pow! My dogs were barking, and I looked through the blinds and saw a man standing there with a pistol in the back of the Y-Not Stop. He was shooting at someone in the parking lot. It was too dark to identify his face. I ran and called 911 and said there’s a shooting taking place, and an ambulance was called out. I went to my family members’ rooms and told them to get away from the windows.”
“The police and other agencies got there, along with an ambulance. Police presence was everywhere. The police did their job, but it was a little late after the fact. I’m not blaming the police because they were present, however, this store--a 24-7 store--should never be allowed in a residential area. Every weekend, especially after the first of the month, there is noise. They do not follow the mayor’s noise ordinance, and it is not enforced. We were scared. Stray bullets could have come through any of our neighbor’s houses. My neighbors all agree this store should not be open after midnight. It’s nothing but trouble. It’s also dangerous for people trying to come and go to work at that time of the morning. And it’s dangerous to the customers and the employees, as well as anyone trying to get out of their house for emergencies. We’re at risk.”
“I feel the city councilmen and the mayor need to be aware that it is not safe to have a store open all night long or past midnight because of the problems that have been ongoing in a residential area. I’m a very concerned citizen and other neighbors feel the same.”
Greg and Mitch Arnaud, brothers who live near the scene of the shooting, also described what they heard early Sunday morning. “I heard the gun shots. It was like an automatic weapon that was being fired,” said Mitch. “It woke me up, and I heard several more rounds go off. After a few minutes, it sounded like they started moving in vehicles. Then they would go a little distance and would fire again. They’d go a little bit further, and they’d fire again. You could hear the cars moving all along LaSalle and Washington Streets. They were circling.”
Greg added, “As far as the Y-Not Stop, we’ve seen people congregating there for over a year. At times the police did go there and break up the crowd. What they normally do after they break them up, they start circling like they did after the shooting. Mitch and I have been monitoring that.”
Mitch and Greg allege drugs and prostitution are rampant in town, with people walking the streets at all hours of the night. They also say the sound of gun shots are common, but as for Sunday morning’s shooting, Mitch said, “That was unreal. It sounded like there was a war going on. Innocent people can get hurt.”
Greg said, “If the city cannot secure the Y-Not Stop, then they need to shut it down at 10:00 at night. People like that, they want to congregate somewhere.”
Mitch added, “They know the police situation. They know exactly what’s going on. They know exactly how many officers they have on duty and where they are. They want to show their authority. That’s why they’re shooting in town like they’re doing and driving around. It’s kind of like the Wild, Wild West. They’re saying, ‘We own the streets. We got control of y’all.’ It’s all related to drugs. Citizens don’t show enough concern.”
The brothers added, “It’s only going to get worse. We’re going to have to show some control over our streets, but if we don’t, they’re just going to take it more and more. They’re going to say, ‘We can do what we want.’ And that’s basically what they’re doing right now. If the city can’t address that problem, then maybe the state can come in to bust up the drug gangs.”
City officials’
perspectives
Councilman Bryant Riggs was there at the Y-Not Stop Sunday morning at 7 a.m. and said the store needs to hire security. “The employees feel unsafe, and that is an internal problem. The police can only do so much that they’re allowed to do, but it’s also a problem of respect for the police department. Trooper Willie Williams can pull up over here, and the whole parking lot will clear. V.P.P.D. pull up over here, it’s hell on high water to get people out of this parking lot, so that reflection is on how people respect the police department to start off with. If one state trooper can come here and control the whole crowd and move them out, then that says volumes,” he said.
Riggs also said the Y-Not Stop “needs to protect their own employees if they’re saying they feel unsafe. Shut the store down early, lock the doors. I came up with an idea where if every business that opens past midnight--any bars, any clubs, any 24-hour store---they can pay into a pool of money. It could be a minimum of $50 a month, and pay for their own security. Police can’t be everywhere.”
Riggs then said, “If these employees are saying that they’re unsafe, then the Y-Not Stop needs to take ownership of this business and provide security, or shut the store down at a certain time. But you can’t hold the police department liable for everything, and at the same time, it comes to the ownership of the store.”
Riggs added, “People need to understand that this is not a hang-out spot. And the police department needs to take control of certain situations. They don’t have to bring everybody to jail. In Opelousas, we wrote citations when I was a police officer. You can’t load the jail up and then the tax payer has to pay money for this person being in jail for a day or two. Start writing citations. Let the word get out: ‘They’re writing citations at the Shell station.’ Coming from my experience as a police officer, start issuing citations. You put one sign out here saying ‘No Soliciting,’ that’s a done deal. No more warning. I guarantee you start writing citations here you’ll see this parking lot clearing every day. They’re not going to hang every night. That’s a solution. Security over here, and citations being written, I promise you won’t have this problem anymore. It’s common sense solutions.”
The Y-Not Stop has a no loitering sign displayed on the outside of the building. One employee said that sign has been there since the building opened.
Riggs reiterated, “That’s all it needs is enforcement. This police department doesn’t write tickets. I know three state troopers who work this area. They tell me they’re taking all our revenue. They say, ‘We come at four in the morning and write nine citations by 10 o’clock.’ And he said that’s not the ones they let go. We’re talking about real citations: no seat belt, running a stop sign, speeding, etc.”
Chief Lartigue responded and said there is only one officer on patrol at night.
As to councilman Rigg’s suggestion to write citations, Lartigue said, “The officer on duty has to make a judgment call on that. I can’t tell him to write citations. He has to make a judgement.”
Lartigue added, “Before my budget was cut, we had at least three officers on patrol, and the sheriff’s office to back us up. Due to the budget cuts, that’s the reason there’s only one officer on the road, and there’s no money for over-time to pay other officers to come out and work an extra shift.” He said there is only one detective working the shooting case.
Chief Lartigue would like to thank the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana State Police for their quick response and assistance. Chief Lartigue is asking anyone with information on either of these two incidents to contact the Ville Platte Police Department at 363-1313. Your call will remain anonymous.