By: ELIZABETH WEST
Managing Editor
L’ANSE MEG -- Since the recent deputy-involved shooting occurred in Evangeline Parish, many have asked why the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Deputy was in the L’Anse Meg area during the early morning hours of July 6, 2017.
After further investigation into this matter and confirmation from the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division, The Gazette was able to uncover that the officer was in fact responding to a report of a possible burglary and theft on Reeton School Rd.
The female complainant, who asked to remain anonymous, called directly to the EPSO at 3:50 a.m. on July 6.
According to the complainant, she made the call after she “heard a loud noise” come from the area of a shed in her yard.
When she looked outside to see what the noise was, she said she “saw someone climb out of the top of the shed.”
This was also stated in the EPSO’s record of what the complainant said when she reported the incident.
The on-duty deputy was dispatched to the home of the complainant, and he arrived on scene approximately eight minutes after the initial call.
After checking out the complainant’s shed and discovering that nothing was taken, according to the complainant, the deputy then prepared to leave her home.
The complainant then said, “When he was about to leave we saw a four-wheeler pass on the road, so when the deputy left he went and pulled them over.”
The traffic stop occurred less than a quarter of a mile from the home of the complainant.
According to the complainant, “while the officer had Dejuan (Guillory) pulled over,” her and her boyfriend “heard another four-wheeler crank” behind their house.
At this point, the complainant says she and her boyfriend then got in their truck and proceeded to back out of their driveway to go and report to the deputy that they had just heard a second four-wheeler.
According to the complainant however, they did not make it far before hearing gunshots.
The complainant said, “We barely got to back out of the driveway before we heard gunshots. When that happened, we went back to our house, got our things, and we went sleep at my boyfriend’s mother’s house. We didn’t know what had happened. We just knew that we didn’t want to stay there.”
The complainant did have a surveillance camera at her home, however, she said it was not facing the direction of the deputy-involved shooting that claimed the life of Dejuan Guillory.
According to the complainant, she “gave the recording from the camera to State Police.”
In connection with this incident, Dequince Brown, who was a passenger on the four-wheeler with Guillory that night, was arrested for attempted first degree murder of a police officer.
Brown has been released from jail on a $75,000.00 bond.
The Gazette will continue to follow this story and will keep the public informed of any new information that is released.