Lafayette police: One teen dead, two wounded in shooting
Man, 18, booked with first-degree murder, attempted murder
By Ryan Broussard
Advocate staff writer
February 13, 2013
LAFAYETTE — Police on Sunday arrested an 18-year-old Lafayette man in the early morning shooting and killing of one teenager and wounding of two teens accused of breaking into his truck.
Seth Fontenot, 132 Green Meadow Road, was booked into Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder, said Lafayette police spokesman Cpl. Paul Mouton.
Police arrested Fontenot before noon, booking records show.
Police have not released the name of the teen who died or other details in the shootings, but may do so Monday, Mouton said. The teen who died was a passenger and the driver and the other passenger are listed in stable condition, he said.
Investigators say the victims were riding in a pickup in the Bellevue Plantation subdivision, on Johnston Street south of the Mall of Acadiana, when Fontenot fired three shots at the truck, Mouton said.
Police had previously identified the area as the Canberra subdivision.
The driver of the pickup sped away and took the passengers to Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center on Ambassador Caffery Parkway by Verot School Road, Mouton said.
Hospital officials called police at 2:15 a.m. to report three 15-year-old boys with gunshot wounds had arrived in the emergency room, Mouton said.
Mouton could not say why the boys were out at 2 a.m., saying the investigation is ongoing. He said he was unaware of any connection between Fontenot and the teenagers.
The shooting occurred in the 100 block of Green Meadow Road at 1:45 a.m., when Fontenot encountered the victims outside his residence, Mouton said.
Fontenot’s sister, Kailey, said her brother caught the boys breaking into his truck.
“That’s why gunshots were fired is because somebody was on his property inside his truck,” Kailey Fontenot said. “He didn’t shoot someone just to shoot someone.”
Kailey Fontenot said her brother told her he intended to shoot a tire so he could retrieve his keys, catch up to the boys in his truck and find out why people have been breaking into it.
She said her brother’s truck has been broken into four times in the past six months and their mother’s purse was stolen when someone broke into her sport utility vehicle about three months ago.
The family has filed police reports for the break-ins, but never heard back from police about the previous break-ins, Kailey Fontenot said.
Late Sunday, Mouton said he could not access the files that contain the reports Fontenot mentioned.
Fontenot said she also called police about Sunday’s break-in, but did not hear back from them until Sunday morning, when they arrived at her house to investigate the shooting.
“If he would have known they were innocent children just acting out because they’re young, he would never, he would never try to harm anyone,” she said.
“It’s 2 in the morning and it was dark, but you see dark shadows in your truck and whenever you go outside and you’re yelling at them to leave, they jump in the truck and you don’t know how old they are,” Fontenot said. She said she thinks the boys live in the neighborhood, but her family has not been told their names.
Police officers went to Seth’s job, Another Broken Egg restaurant in River Ranch, where they questioned him and ultimately arrested him, Kailey Fontenot said.
She said the family spoke to her brother briefly, and the boy’s death is weighing heavily on him.
“I mean he’s hurting and he knows he’s going to have to live with this for the rest of his life,” Kailey Fontenot said.
While her brother sits in jail, she said she wants someone to tell her why those 15-year-old boys were driving a truck around at 2 a.m. “I’m sorry. My heart is very heavy for someone that lost their kids, but where were the parents at?” Kailey Fontenot said. “They’re under 15 years old driving a truck. I’m just concerned because my brother is facing very big charges for something that shouldn’t have happened.”