When a 13-year-old boy attempted a carjacking in New Orleans last Thursday night, things didn't go quite as planned — the kid's target was an undercover Louisiana state trooper sitting in an unmarked pickup truck, KALB-TV reported.
The trooper was parked near Tulane University conducting drug sting surveillance when a dark-colored car pulled up, the station said.
“A juvenile ended up getting out of his car and attempted to get into the trooper's car,” Sgt. Jared Sandifer of the Louisiana State Police told KALB. “That's when the shots were fired.”
State police said the trooper fired his service weapon at the boy but did not hit him, the station reported, adding that cops wouldn't say if the boy was armed.
The 13-year-old re-entered the dark-colored vehicle, which sped off, KALB reported.
Neighbor Steve Barbier heard the gunfire: “Two or three," he told the station. "I was sitting up watching television and I definitely knew they were gunshots. Looked out the window and that's when the car came tearing by.”
Soon troopers found the kid walking in the area and arrested him, KALB said. He was booked into a juvenile detention center on one count of attempted carjacking, as well as an outstanding Orleans Parish burglary warrant, Nola.com reported.
Neither the trooper nor the suspect were injured, police told the outlet, adding that they're still looking for the getaway car's driver.
“The whole circumstances are still under investigation of why shots were fired," Sandifer told KALB. "We're trying to get to the bottom of it all."
Legal experts told WWL-AM the trooper was justified in shooting at the subject since a vehicle is considered the same as your home, and one doesn't have to retreat in one's own home.
The teen is reportedly a runaway, WWL said.
(H/T: Blue Lives Matter)
Dave Urbanski
Sr. Editor, News
