KENNER, La. — Three police officers in a New Orleans suburb were wounded Sunday after being shot during a fatal standoff with a man suspected in two previous shootings.
The suspect, identified as Matthew Lathers, 31, of Kenner, was ultimately killed by a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office sniper, according to Fox 8 in New Orleans.
The three Kenner police officers who were shot are all expected to survive. The news station reported that one was shot in the arm, the second in the leg and the third in the stomach.
Two of the officers had been released from the hospital as of Sunday afternoon. The third remained hospitalized in stable condition.
NOLA.com reported that Lathers was wanted on warrants for attempted murder and armed robbery that stemmed from a double shooting that took place Tuesday afternoon in the 700 block of Coleman Place, located about a block from the scene of Sunday’s standoff. When officers arrived, they found the 56-year-old victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
The man’s cellphone and wallet were missing, the news site reported.
While the man was treated at a hospital for critical injuries, detectives developed Lathers, who had a prior 2012 robbery conviction, as a suspect in the case.
He remained at large around 9:45 a.m. Sunday morning when two men made the unfortunate mistake of stopping in front of the home on Farm Avenue where Lathers was hiding. New Orleans’ WGNO reported that the house belongs to a family member of the alleged gunman.
Listen to authorities give an update on the standoff below, courtesy of WWL-TV in New Orleans.
According to Fox 8, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said Lathers likely believed the two men outside the house were police searching for him in connection with Tuesday’s shooting.
Lathers fired upon the men as they sat in their car. One man was critically wounded and the second suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Kenner police responded to Farm Lane, where SWAT officers were deployed, the news station reported.
After about two hours with no contact with Lathers, the SWAT team sent a camera-equipped robot into the house to determine if he was still inside. When the robot became stuck, three SWAT officers carefully entered the home to detangle it.
Lathers suddenly appeared with a rifle and shot the officers, authorities said.
Kenner authorities sought help from Jefferson Parish deputies, who dispatched their own SWAT team to the scene. Lopinto said his office’s Bearcat armored vehicle was hit by gunfire when it arrived, but that no deputies were injured.
“He probably didn’t want to go to jail,” Lopinto said, via Fox 8. “We attempted to negotiate with him numerous times, but there was never any answer or attempt to negotiate with us.
“At another point, he appeared again in the same spot with his rifle. One of our snipers was able to take him out at that time, and he was declared deceased.”
Kenner police spokesman Capt. Michael Cunningham said Lathers had no apparent connection to the men he shot outside his relative’s home Sunday morning.
“We believe they were going to or coming from church, and they stopped in front of the house when they were shot,” Cunningham said, according to the news station.
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