By CAIN BURDEAU
Associated Press Writer
SLIDELL, Louisiana- Officials in this small city on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain fear crime is spilling over from heavily patrolled New Orleans, after four people died this week in a shooting that authorities suspect was drug-related.
Two adults and two teenagers were shot at a mobile home park Tuesday night, officials said. At least two victims were former New Orleans residents, and one had moved into the park after Hurricane Katrina hit last August, said St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain.
Two people are believed to have been involved in the shootings, Strain said Wednesday. Authorities are still searching for them.
Tuesday’s shooting was one of the worst crimes Strain said he has seen in 25 years of law enforcement in St. Tammany Parish, which encompasses rural areas and New Orleans bedroom communities.
Slidell is connected to New Orleans by a 5-mile-long (8-kilometer-long) interstate bridge spanning the lake’s eastern edge.
The shooting recalled the June 17 slayings of five teenagers in New Orleans, although there is no indication the deaths were related.
After the teens were killed, National Guardsmen and state police were sent to beef up New Orleans patrols. The state should have taken a more regional approach, Strain said, noting that beefed-up patrols in New Orleans are probably pushing criminals outward.
“If you send 500 armed men into a zoo, the animals are going to crawl out of the cage,” Strain said.
Louisiana officials should consider assigning more state police to his area, he said. No one in the governor’s office was available to comment Wednesday evening.
The St. Tammany shootings happened in a trailer around 8:45 p.m. All four victims were shot at least once in the head. They were identified as Roxann Agoglia, 36; her boyfriend, Eric Perreand, 39; their daughter, Erica Agoglia, 16; and Perreand’s nephew, Andrew Perreand, 15.
A woman and her daughter also in the trailer were unharmed and being questioned, Strain said.