NEW IBERIA, La. — A shooting in New Iberia led to a six-hour standoff between police and the suspected shooter.
Just before 3 a.m. on Jan. 18, New Iberia Police Department began investigating a shooting in the 700 block of South Hopkins Street. Officers found a man, who was a victim of the shooting, in the yard of a home near the intersection of South Hopkins Street and W. Lemelle Drive. He was taken to a Lafayette hospital, where he remains in critical condition, according to police.
Officers were able to track the suspected shooter, later identified as Brad Joseph Thomas, 29, to the 400 block of West Dale Street, where he had trespassed into someone's home and barricaded himself inside, refusing to leave. The owner of the home was able to escape unharmed, according to police.
Police created a perimeter around the home, calling the New Iberia Police Department's and Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department's S.W.A.T. teams in to provide assistance.
Around 9 a.m. on Jan. 18, Thomas was taken into custody and booked into the Iberia Parish jail with attempted second degree murder, possession of a firearm by convicted felon, illegal use of weapons, unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, resisting an officer and aggravated criminal damage to property.
