Two men accused of shooting at New Orleans police after officers confronted them during an armed robbery at an Uptown drug store tied up employees with zip ties and filled a trash bag with prescription drugs, an NOPD sergeant wrote.
According to an affidavit of probable cause in one of the accused men’s case, the pair were leaving the store with a trash bag filled with pills and other “medical supplies” from the Prytania Street CVS when the officers, with guns drawn, confronted them at the front of the store.
The encounter ultimately led to an exchange of gunfire between the two men, ages 26 and 19, and the three police officers. The confrontation resulted in bullet wounds to one of the officers and both of the men. The officer was shot in the shoulder and the 26-year-old armed robbery suspect was shot in the hip, officials said. It’s unclear where the 18-year-old armed robbery suspect was struck, but NOPD said he was in stable condition when EMS took him to a hospital.
The affidavit sworn by NOPD Sgt. David Barnes states that two men entered the store about 6:06 a.m., which is two minutes before NOPD said they received a call about the armed robbery. Both men wore hooded sweatshirts with the hood over their heads, and blue medical gloves, the affidavit states.
NOLA.com | The The Times-Picayune is not immediately releasing the names of the accused men because NOPD said the publishing of their identities in media reports could compromise an ongoing and active joint NOPD and FBI investigation.
Second suspect arrested after police officer shot Uptown: NOPD
Immediately after entering the CVS, the sergeant wrote, the 26-year-old suspect removed a gun from his waistband and went behind the front counter where he “detained” a cashier “using zip-ties,” the affidavit states. He led the cashier to an office area out of the view of a camera. Meanwhile, the 18-year-old suspect went to the rear of the store, in the pharmacy area, and forced another employee onto the ground. The teen then secured the employee’s feet with zip-ties, Barnes wrote.
The 18-year-old suspect started to fill a large trash bag with “several pill bottles” he retrieved from the pharmacy’s safe. About two minutes later, the 26-year-old suspect came to the pharmacy area, “interacted” with the person whose feet the 18-year-old suspect secured, and then the 26-year-old suspect used zip-ties to secure that person’s hands. After filing the trash bag, the pair went to the front of the store, where the three officers confronted them. NOPD said police received a call about the armed robbery at 6:08 a.m., arrived at 6:10 a.m., and a revised call indicating officers needed help was issued a minute later.
According to the affidavit, the three uniformed 3rd District officers had their guns drawn and told the suspects to surrender. When the suspects saw the officers, they ran to the rear of the store, toward the pharmacy. When the pair went to the rear of the store, the affidavit states, the three officers “retreated” to the outside of the store, where they again gave commands for the men to surrender and “waited for the subjects to exit the store.”
The affidavit states the suspects again went to the front of the store “and exchanged gunfire with the officers.” The affidavit does not expressly say who fired first.
The suspects left the store, running south toward the Mississippi River, “continuing to fire their weapons towards the officers as they did,” the affidavit states. In addition to one of the officers, both of the accused men were struck by gunfire.
The 18-year-old was quickly apprehended after he collapsed in the 1300 block of Lyons Street, the affidavit states. The 26-year-old was apprehended more than two hours later, after police found him hiding in the area outside a home in the 1000 block of Upperline, near Coliseum Street. Both suspects were taken by EMS to a hospital for treatment for their gunshot wounds.
The 26-year-old’s first appearance hearing is scheduled in Orleans Parish Magistrate Tuesday morning (June 18). Records show he was booked into jail about 9:40 p.m. Monday. The 18-year-old had not been booked into jail as of Tuesday morning, and was presumably still being treated at a hospital.
Stay with NOLA.com for more on this developing story.
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