'We see you': Joint operation to combat recent gun violence nets 13 arrests

American Press

a day ago

A joint operation between the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office, Lake Charles Police and Louisiana State Police to address the recent gun violence in the community has netted 13 arrests in the past few weeks — and Sheriff Stitch Guillory has a message for those who are in possession of stolen firearms and are bragging about it online: 'We see you.'
Over a six-week period between June and August, six shootings were reported within the parish. Four resulted in fatalities.
In June, LCPD responded to a fatal shooting in the 200 block of North 1st Avenue and CPSO investigated the death of a man whose body was discovered on the side of the road near the 6700 block of U.S. 90 riddled with gunshot wounds. In July, CPSO investigated a fatal shooting at the Lake Charles Event Center Seawall, a Fourth of July shooting in the 1100 block of Allen Street in DeQuincy, and a shooting in the parking lot of Cowboys Night Club. On Aug. 5, LCPD responded to a fatal shooting in the parking lot of the On The Rocks bar — which is across the street from the McNeese State University Legacy Center.
Guillory said the joint operation was underway before the On The Rocks shooting.
'We're not being reactive, we are proactive,' he said. 'Getting guns off our street and targeting criminals in and around local bar establishments where we know we're having problems (led to the operation). We decided to get ahead of the curve, it just so happened that the homicide at On The Rocks happened afterward.'
Police Chief Shawn Caldwell said the arrests range from a 'variety of gun charges, a variety of drug charges and some traffic charges, as well.'
During the arrests, seven illegally possessed firearms, more than 400 grams of marijuana, 12 Xanax pills and nine pressed Fentanyl pills were recovered.
'We take this serious. We're going to go out there, we're going to identify these people and we're going to arrest them,' Caldwell said. 'When we're done with that, we're going to turn them over to the DA.'
District Attorney Stephen Dwight said two prosecutors on his team have been assigned to the joint operation to lend support and answer questions on searches and seizures.
'This is what the community wants to see; this is what we want to see,' Dwight said. 'We're getting guns off our streets and drugs off our streets and we're prepared to take these cases and run them through the judicial system.'
Guillory said among the firearms confiscated was an AR-15.
'There's no purpose for that,' he said. 'What are you going to do with an AR-15?'
To those college students fearful of patronizing local bars after their classes because of the recent violence, the sheriff said there has been no problems inside any of the facilities.
'It's just been in the parking lots, after they're closed,' he said. 'The bars themselves are safe.'
Local ordinances require area bars and nightclubs to close at 2 a.m. Special details have been set up at these locations to clear out the parking lots after hours.
Guillory said the men and women behind the badge signed up for this career because they want to make a difference in their community
'We're going to do everything we can, we're going to use every tool we have at our disposal to make our community safe and to keep our community safe,' he said. 'To the criminals out there, you want to go on social media and you want to post your stuff, we see it, too. That's our message. When you have drugs and you have them combined with a firearm, that's enhanced charges. I can promise you we're going to work with our federal partners to try and send you away for a very long time.'