[email protected] Subject: (LA) Robber encounters armed citizens in TWO
robbery attempts 02-14-02
Address:http://www.dailycomet.com/d14.html Feb. 14, 2002
Would-be robber shot in Cut Off
From staff reports

A local man being charged with two counts of burglary was awaiting
surgery at Charity Hospital in New Orleans after he was shot twice by a
man whose car police report he tried to steal.

Randal Owen, 23, 170 E. 57th St. in Cut Off, has been charged with
two counts of burglary after he reportedly broke into the back of
Collins Big Star Supermarket in Cut Off and then later attempted to
steal a vehicle at 14413 E. Main St. also in Cut Off, a Lafourche Parish
Sheriff’s Office report said.

The vehicle’s owner, Kerry Gaspard, fired shots from a 9-mm pistol and
shortly afterwards, officers found Owen lying on the front porch of
another home nearby.

The incidents began around 9:15 p.m. when a resident living next door
to Collins Big Star spotted someone breaking into the supermarket and
called the store’s owner, Francis Bruce.

After he arrived, Bruce’s 15-year old son heard someone inside the
store, so he and Bruce waited outside the store for the Sheriff’s Office
to arrive, the report said.

Police say the suspect got into the store by breaking the lock on the
back door with a crowbar. When the suspect heard Bruce at the back of
the store, he left through the front, breaking his way out through a
glass door and full-length glass panels.

Police found the crowbar inside the store.

At the time, witnesses described the burglar as a man of medium build
who was wearing a dark jacket.

They say he ran north along La. 308 after Bruce fired a shot in the air.

Patrol officers arrived within two minutes of receiving the call, but
the suspect had already left the scene, the report said.

Detectives were sent to the scene to investigate the burglary.

Shortly before 11 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office received another call
reporting an attempted auto theft at Gaspard’s residence, which is
located about 1.5 miles north of Collins Big Star Supermarket.

After Gaspard had fired shots, K-9 Officer Dean Savoie and his dog,
Tosca, were able to track the suspect from the scene of the attempted
auto theft to the porch were he was found, the report said.

Savoie also recovered a dark leather jacket with two bullet holes in it,
which was placed in evidence, the report said.

Owens was transported to Lady of the Sea Hospital with two bullet wounds
in his shoulders, the report said.

He was treated and transported to Charity Hospital, where he is expected
to undergo surgery.

Police say Owen has a long criminal history and is currently on
probation for burglary in another state.

Larry Weidel, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said the Sheriff’s Office
was planning on referring the investigation over to the district
attorney’s office but no charges would be filed against Gaspard by
police.

In a separate incident, the EZ Serve convenient store at 3898 La. 1 in
Raceland was also robbed.

According to a Sheriff’s Office report, a black man wearing all black
clothing went into the store with a white sheet over his head. There
were two female clerks in the store at the time.

The man showed them a silver and black handgun and took an undisclosed
amount of cash, according to the report.

He escaped on foot, but store clerks say he might have gotten into a
vehicle parked down the street, the report said.

Detectives are conducting an investigation into this armed robbery also.

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