Police engaged in a high-speed chase with a Louisiana man, 23, who had threatened to end his life and his daughter's on Wednesday, November 13. The man was supposed to retrieve his belongings from a house in Paulina but never made it there. After a wellness check was requested, police found the man and his daughter in a vehicle. After the chase ended, the man killed his daughter and then turned the gun on himself. He later died at a hospital.
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The wellness check that triggered the chase was requested by the woman who was at the house. She had called the police originally to request the presence of deputies while the man retrieved his belongings. With the yet unidentified man never making it on time, she called again, one hour and 40 minutes later, according to WAFB.
Once police arrived, the woman requested a welfare check on both the man and his daughter. According to the outlet, both of them were traveling in a vehicle nearby. Thanks to the help of the girl's mother, authorities were able to find them, one hour later. The mother was monitoring the vehicle. According to the outlet, she received threats from the man about harming himself and their daughter.
Ascension Parish Sherriff's Office deputies and Gonzales Police Department officers then began a high-speed pursuit of the vehicle.
A Tragedy
Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre held a press conference on Thursday and went into detail about the chase. "So we did actually chase the vehicle, but when we're talking about chasing the vehicle, this is a high volume of traffic in that area," Webre said. "So I don't think we reached speed over 55-60 miles per hour, but the vehicle simply would not stop for us even though we would use our lights and sirens."
Eventually, the vehicle did stop at St. James Parish. Reportedly, the man pulled into a cemetery and, tragically, shot his one-year-old daughter. He then shot himself, with officers hearing the shots from a distance. Authorities pronounced the girl dead at the scene and the man later died at a local hospital.
"Even when you're a tough bunch you never want to see the tragedy of another child getting hurt," Sheriff Webre said about the girl's tragic death. "If I could finish out my career in law enforcement without seeing another child hurt, I would love to do it and think it would be a blessing from God."
Louisiana State Police are currently investigating the incident at the request of the St. James Parish Sheriff's Office.
