Two wounded in St. Gabriel

Police arriving at the scene of an apartment shooting arrested two suspected attackers as they tried to jump-start their stalled getaway car, the St. Gabriel Police Department reported Tuesday.

The arrested men were identified as Keith Joseph, 33, 11585 N. Harrell’s Ferry Road; and Gabriel King, 32, 192 Apricot St., LaPlace. Police booked Joseph and King on three counts each of attempted second-degree murder and criminal damage to property.

Additionally, officers booked King with possession of a stolen firearm and booked Joseph with violation of a protective order.

The two arrested men face prosecution for allegedly shooting two St. Gabriel men Monday night at a Bank Drive apartment, Police Chief Kevin Ambeau said. Ambeau said the shootings were the first in his Iberville Parish city in six years.

The motive, Ambeau said, appears to be domestic because one of the two victims, Ron Alexander, 32, had been seeing an ex-girlfriend of one of the two accused men, Ambeau said. Joseph’s former girlfriend recently obtained a restraining order against him, and Monday night’s attack was in retaliation for that, Ambeau said.

Ambeau said the incident unfolded as Joseph and King hid in bushes outside Apartment A, 3665 Bank Drive, and awaited the victims. When Alexander and Joseph’s ex-girlfriend drove up to Alexander’s apartment around 9:30 p.m., King jumped out of the bushes, held a gun to Alexander’s head and told him not to move, Ambeau said.

Alexander tried to get away and reached for the gun, but King fired a bullet into Alexander’s neck. Alexander fled into the apartment with King following, Ambeau said. Once inside, King shot Alexander’s roommate, Calvin Trice, in the leg and hip, Ambeau said. King then shot Alexander a second time, hitting Alexander in the buttocks, Ambeau said.

King and Joseph ran to their getaway car, but the car wouldn’t start, Ambeau said.

While King and Joseph were trying to jump-start the car, police arrived and arrested them.

Ambeau said detectives believe Joseph paid King for the attack.

The two shooting victims remained in the hospital Tuesday. The girlfriend was not injured.