Free Republic

Five boys, ages 14-16, have been arrested and booked with illegal possession of a firearm after a St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's deputy on patrol in Reserve on Tuesday said he saw one of the teens drop a gun behind a tree. The deputy said he began to draw his own weapon after it appeared that another boy pulled a gun from the waistband of his pants as he approached the group in the 8800 block of Houma Drive around 3:30 p.m. The boys ran off, and authorities say the deputy found two handguns behind a tree.

A grainy picture is starting to emerge of the suspects involved in the shootings Thursday morning that claimed the lives of two St. John Parish sheriff's deputies and injured two others. Five of them had apparently been under surveillance in DeSoto Parish in north Louisiana two months ago, and at least one of them was considered a fugitive in Nebraska and Kansas for "making terroristic threats" as well as allegedly selling marijuana. Authorities believe that suspect, Kyle Joekel, 29, may have ties to anti-government groups, in particular a loose organization known as Posse Comitatus that generally doesn't recognize authority above...

Two St. John [sheriff] deputies and two civilians were reportedly shot in LaPlace at about 5:00 a.m. UPDATE: WWL-TV reports that two officers are dead and two others were shot in the incident. The incident occurred near Bayou Steel on Highway 3217 in a Valero plant parking lot. That highway remains closed at this time. The parking lot is located in St. John Parish, while the Valero plant itself is located in St. Charles Parish. There is no word yet on the conditions of the officers or the other two people shot in the incident. A witness on the scene...