The Advocate
ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. — The Grand Coteau police officer shot during a New Year’s Day traffic stop has been identified.
Officer Kiara Harris was shot in the upper right arm while performing a traffic stop on La. 93. The suspect, Michael Dewayne Lucas, ran a red light and opened fire on Harris as she approached his vehicle, a statement from St. Landry Parish Sheriff Deputy Chief Eddie Thibodeaux said.
The accused attempted to drive away while Harris pursued him but crashed the vehicle into a ditch and fled on foot. He was later apprehended behind a home on Burleigh Lane. Officers found a Ruger P95 .9mm pistol in his possession, the sheriff’s department said.
Lucas, 59, of Forsyth, Georgia, is wanted on a charge of grand theft auto out of Calhoun County, Florida and is a suspect in a homicide there. Lucas was driving the same stolen vehicle in Wednesday’s incident, Thibodeaux’s statement said.
Lucas, 59, of Forsyth, Georgia, is wanted on a charge of grand theft auto out of Calhoun County, Florida and is a suspect in a homicide there. Lucas was driving the same stolen vehicle in Wednesday’s incident, Thibodeaux’s statement said.
Calhoun County is located in the Florida panhandle between Panama City and Tallahassee. Calhoun County Sheriff Glenn Kimbrel said the homicide victim was found stabbed and bludgeoned to death in a travel trailer on Newsome Road in Clarksville, Florida around 10:15 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
Deputies believe the victim was murdered before 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. His identity has not been released publicly because deputies are still working to notify his next of kin, Kimbrel said. Both Lucas and the victim came to the area to work in construction after Hurricane Michael ravaged the area in October 2018.
The stolen vehicle belonged to the permanent owner of the property where the trailer was located. Lucas asked to borrow the vehicle around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday for a trip to a local store and never returned. The property owner later found the victim’s body. Deputies have no information currently about where Lucas was fleeing, Kimbrel said.
Florida law enforcement is in the process of filing homicide charges against Lucas, he said.
Lucas was taken to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Complex for questioning, where he voluntarily submitted to a recorded statement during which he admitted to shooting Harris and implicated himself in the Florida homicide, deputies reported.
The suspect was booked into the St. Landry Parish Jail on a count of attempted first-degree murder and was placed on hold pending charges out of Florida. Bond has not been set.
“Our prosecutors are going to work with each other from both prospective areas to determine which case to proceed with first. They have him so they may want to keep him for a while,” Kimbrel said.