Sheriff: Shooting suspect arrested at bus station after tip

HARVEY, La. (AP) — The man accused of shooting and wounding a Louisiana sheriff’s deputy was preparing to board a bus and flee town when he was arrested Tuesday morning, the sheriff said.

Tyronne Louis, 38, surrendered peacefully to a U.S. Marshals task force in front of the New Orleans bus station, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said.

Lopinto said authorities received a tip that Louis would be going to the bus station to try and leave town, and Louis had a bus ticket. He did not have the gun used in the shooting on him at the time of his arrest, Lopinto said. Authorities were still looking for it.

Deputy Christopher Haislup was shot and wounded in the elbow and leg Sunday when he responded to a disturbance between Louis and his girlfriend at a Metairie hotel.

The clerk at the hotel called police and when Haislup and another deputy arrived, they separated Louis and his girlfriend, Lopinto said. One of the officers went with the girlfriend and one with Louis.

“He (Louis) took off running and turned around and fired,” the sheriff said.

That set off a two-day manhunt, which included sheriff’s deputies, state police, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“We had a small army out there looking for him,” Lopinto said.

Louis is being charged with attempted first-degree murder, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, obstruction of justice, domestic abuse battery, aggravated assault, and as a fugitive from probation and parole, the sheriff’s office said.

The domestic abuse battery and aggravated assault charges are connected to the disturbance that deputies were called to the hotel to investigate Sunday night, and the victim is Louis’ girlfriend, the sheriff’s office said.

Lopinto said at the time of the shooting that Louis was also wanted in a New Orleans aggravated assault case.

“He probably knew that he was going to be arrested and probably the reason that he fled that night,” Lopinto said.

The 34-year-old Haislup has been with the sheriff’s office for 11 years. He’s married and has two children.

He is still in the hospital and is expected to undergo surgery Wednesday, Lopinto said.

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This story has been corrected to change county to parish.