Sheriff promises to boost patrols
Two shot last week in Donaldsonville
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DONALDSONVILLE — Ascension Parish Sheriff Jeff Wiley promised the City Council on Tuesday increased patrols by deputies in the neighborhood where a 5-year-old boy and a man were shot with an assault rifle last Saturday.
Wiley said the neighborhood that straddles St. Patrick Street north of Marchand Street, called the “back of town” by Donaldsonville residents, has developed its own set of “inner- city problems.”
“We’ve got thugs, and we’ve got more than our fair share,” Wiley said. “We have to draw a line in the sand when a 5-year-old boy can get shot with an AK-47-type assault rifle in broad daylight on the corner the day before Easter.”
According to sheriff’s reports, Shedrick Mumphrey, 811 Lessard St., Donaldsonville, was arrested in the shooting and booked with three counts of attempted murder, one count of illegal discharge of a weapon, one count of illegal use of a weapon and two counts of negligent injury.
Donaldsonville city government pays the Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement within the city limits.
Wiley said deputies would be ordered to move pedestrians found loitering in the middle of the street, break up corner dice games and cite people playing boom boxes and car stereos too loudly.
The sheriff asked for the public’s cooperation and said he want to be notified if his deputies became too forceful in quieting the neighborhood.
“I will react like a sheriff should,” Wiley said. “There is an unwritten law of noncooperation, but I believe there are more law-abiding citizens in that neighborhood than thugs.”
Councilman Reginald Francis Sr., who represents the St. Patrick Street neighborhood, said he was disturbed by the shooting incident.
“I’m sick of it,” Francis said. “Everyone is sick of it.”
Wiley challenged the council to provide more recreational opportunities for youth in the neighborhood and indicated he would share the costs of creating a park.
In a separate recreation matter, the council authorized a contract in which the city, Ascension Parish and the West Ascension Recreation Services Commission would provide for youth baseball, basketball and other recreational park needs and services.
Wiley said the neighborhood that straddles St. Patrick Street north of Marchand Street, called the “back of town” by Donaldsonville residents, has developed its own set of “inner- city problems.”
“We’ve got thugs, and we’ve got more than our fair share,” Wiley said. “We have to draw a line in the sand when a 5-year-old boy can get shot with an AK-47-type assault rifle in broad daylight on the corner the day before Easter.”
According to sheriff’s reports, Shedrick Mumphrey, 811 Lessard St., Donaldsonville, was arrested in the shooting and booked with three counts of attempted murder, one count of illegal discharge of a weapon, one count of illegal use of a weapon and two counts of negligent injury.
Donaldsonville city government pays the Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement within the city limits.
Wiley said deputies would be ordered to move pedestrians found loitering in the middle of the street, break up corner dice games and cite people playing boom boxes and car stereos too loudly.
The sheriff asked for the public’s cooperation and said he want to be notified if his deputies became too forceful in quieting the neighborhood.
“I will react like a sheriff should,” Wiley said. “There is an unwritten law of noncooperation, but I believe there are more law-abiding citizens in that neighborhood than thugs.”
Councilman Reginald Francis Sr., who represents the St. Patrick Street neighborhood, said he was disturbed by the shooting incident.
“I’m sick of it,” Francis said. “Everyone is sick of it.”
Wiley challenged the council to provide more recreational opportunities for youth in the neighborhood and indicated he would share the costs of creating a park.
In a separate recreation matter, the council authorized a contract in which the city, Ascension Parish and the West Ascension Recreation Services Commission would provide for youth baseball, basketball and other recreational park needs and services.
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