Lake Charles Police say two are dead in a murder-suicide that began Friday night.
Initially officers were called to the 600 block of E. LaGrange Street by a witness who heard shots fired. When they arrived there just before 11 p.m. they found Cory Kerlegan, 43, dead in his vehicle.
Police say Kerlegan was found in someone else's car, and learned from witnesses that the person who alleged shot him was the estranged husband of the vehicle's owner.
Officers then learned that that man, Malcolm J. Fontenot, 43, had kidnapped his estranged wife at gunpoint and fled the scene in another vehicle. About half an hour later, a Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's deputy spotted that vehicle on La. 14 near Tom Hebert Road. The deputy tried to stop the vehicle, but it ran a red light and sped away. When the vehicle started to make a turn, the woman who had been kidnapped jumped from the car. She was transported to a local hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Lake Charles Police and Calcasieu deputies continued to chase the man, and finally brought the vehicle to a stop using spike strips on Sale Road. Officers asked him to get out of the car, but he wouldn't, so the SWAT team was called to the scene. SWAT officers tried to make contact with the man, and saw him slumped over in the seat. They approached the vehicle and found that Fontenot was dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
This remains an ongoing investigation of a murder-suicide, police say. Sgt. Willie Fontenot and Sgt. Larry Newingham are the lead investigators and anyone with additional information is asked to contact them by calling 337-491-1311.
