On Wednesday night, October 2, there was another shooting in Ville Platte near the intersection of Edward “Knotoe” Thomas Street and Soileau Street, sometime between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. This time someone lost their life, allegedly at the hands of a teenager.
According to Chief of Police Neil Lartigue, officers responded to a report of a male subject lying on the ground. He had a gunshot wound in his upper back. The victim was transported to Mercy Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. According to witness accounts there was a fight involving multiple people when the shooting occurred.
An investigation led to the arrest of a 16-year-old male suspect. The investigators, Chief of Police, Evangeline Parish District Attorney’s Office and Judge Chuck West met Thursday, and the decision was made to charge the 16-year-old as an adult.
Chief Lartigue stated, “Although the juvenile will be charged as an adult, we will not be releasing his name or photo at this time.”
The juvenile is charged with one count of second degree murder, one count of illegal use of a weapon or dangerous instrument, and one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a juvenile. The juvenile is being held at the Evangeline Parish Jail on a $1,055,000.00 bond.
More information will be released as it becomes available.
Chief Lartigue asks that anyone who sees suspicious or illegal activity, call the Ville Platte Police Department at 363-1313. Your call will remain anonymous.
The shooting occurred in Councilman Coach Lionel Anderon’s district. The victim was a distant cousin of his. “There was a vigil Thursday night for him. I really wanted to go, but I’m on crutches from a back injury and I can’t move around too well,” said Anderson, who felt bad for the victim and his family and said more people need to come forward when they know a crime is about to happen. “Somebody knew this was going to happen. People think that if they say something someone will go shoot up their house. The days of Al Capone are over. We need to be more visible as a community. The police can do just so much, but we need to be the eyes. If we see something going on, we need to say something.”
Anderson added, “We’ve got problems in our neighborhood. There are too many people walking the streets with nowhere to go and nothing to do. We have to do a better job with the pedestrians at night. Until we as a community decide to be a solution instead of a problem, this neighborhood will always have problems.” He suggested having a neighborhood watch. “The community needs to be visible. If people see you watching then a lot of this stuff is going to stop. I just hope we can be the community we were before. We have to let people who are not from here know we are concerned about our community.”
June 10, 2026
