The man who allegedly barricaded himself inside a trailer Thursday with two other people - one of them a child - was wanted on multiple warrants, records show.
When police went to the home on Martin Luther King Drive they knew that Nyjal Hurst was wanted by Jeanerette Police on warrants for Aggravated Second Degree Battery and Home Invasion, and on warrants from the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office for Armed Robbery, Illegal Use of Weapons, Attempted Car Jacking, Domestic Abuse Battery Child Endangerment by Strangulation, and (2) Counts of Aggravated Battery.
He also is wanted on a fugitive warrant out of Lafayette Parish for failing to appear for his arraignment on a bill of information filed against him in October on charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of cocaine, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, possession of a firearm in the presence of drugs, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and resisting arrest.
Hurst, 31, has an extensive criminal history in Iberia Parish, records show.
In 2011, he was charged with two counts possession of a controlled dangerous substance, and pleaded guilty to a revised charge of attempted possession with intent to distribute to cocaine and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. That sentence was suspended, and he was given five years of probation. Within two years, his probation officer had filed a motion to revoke that probation. In 2015, it was revoked and he was sentenced to serve those 10 years in prison.
In 2012, he was charged with illegal use of weapons and aggravated criminal damage to property. A fugitive warrant was issued for him when he failed to appear for his trial, but eventually both charges were dismissed.
In 2015, Hurst was charged with attempted first-degree murder, possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, aggravated flight from an officer and resisting an officer. After his arrest, he remained in the Iberia Parish Jail until he pleaded guilty to a revised charge of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder in August 2017. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with credit for time served. All the other charges were dismissed following his guilty plea.
There were two cases in 2019.
Hurst was charged with four counts aggravated assault with a firearm, possession of a firearm by convicted felon, two counts criminal damage to property, harassing phone calls and battery on a dating partner. His trial was delayed multiple times, during which he was reportedly being held by the Department of Corrections. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
In exchange for his guilty plea, all the other charges were dropped. He was sentenced to four years without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence on the aggravated assault charge, and eight years on the firearm possession charge, with the sentences to be served concurrently, or at the same time.
Also in 2019, he was charged with aggravated flight from an officer when human life is endangered, illegal possession of stolen firearms and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. These charges were all dismissed in connection with the other 2019 case, following his guilty plea.
We've reached out to the state Department of Corrections to get records of his prison time, and we'll update this story as soon as we receive it.
