A suspect is in stable condition in Baton Rouge Sunday, after deputies shot him during a crime spree that started with the stabbing death of his grandmother and the stabbing of his mother, and ended with three other people wounded by gunfire.
Deputies say the suspect, who has not yet been identified, stabbed his grandmother and mother, then stole his grandmother's car. His grandmother died. His mother is expected to survive.
The man drove to the nearby Highland Marketplace shopping center, to dump that car and steal another. In the process, he shot a man while trying to steal his truck, and two women while trying to steal the vehicle they were in. He finally found a running, empty vehicle and stole that one, EBR Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux says.
Luckily, there is an Ochsner Urgent Care facility in the shopping center, and the physician and nurses on duty there came out to help the wounded until the ambulance could arrive, Gautreaux says. The man and the two women shot during the attempted carjackings are all listed in stable condition Sunday afternoon, the sheriff says.
The suspect left in the stolen vehicle, but was spotted by deputies on Siegen Lane, the sheriff said. They pursued him until he abandoned that vehicle near the intersection of Jefferson and Bluebonnet and fled on foot. The sheriff said the main pointed his gun and deputies, and may have fired it, but that's not known yet. In any event, the deputies fired at him and struck him twice. He's now in stable condition at a local hospital, the sheriff said.
WBRZ is reporting that Deputies identified the grandmother as Diana Gafford. The suspect, Aaron Morgan, 28, will be booked with his grandmother’s murder as well as the other shootings once released from the hospital, deputies told WBRZ.
Gafford was about to celebrate her 79th birthday Thursday, the station reports.
WAFB is reporting that the two women were mother and daughter who had just left the urgent care clinic where they daughter had taken a COVID test in preparation for school starting again. The mother was shot in the face, the station reports. To read the story, click here.
Here's the Sheriff's statement:
