St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre gave gruesome details of a masked man, wielding two knives, and stabbing his girlfriend, siblings and a teen girl in a killing spree in Laplace.
This happened Sunday evening in a home in the 1800 block of Fairway Drive in Laplace.
Sheriff Tregre says 23-year-old, Oscar Urias, was in the home with his 31-year-old girlfriend Elizabeth Tornabene, her sister 15-year-old year old, his 15-year-old brother, and a 17-year old sister, when he allegedly comes out of a room armed with two knives and wearing a mask of some kind. One of the knives the sheriff says is a long blade knife described as a machete.
The sheriff says Urias began stabbing his girlfriend to death. Urias’ brother and sister tried to stop the assault but Tregre says Urias then began stabbing his siblings.
Tornabene's 15-year-old sister ran out of the house and down the street to a neighbor’s open garage, in an attempt to get help.
The sheriff says, Urias chased the girl down the street and caught up to her in the neighbor’s garage and began stabbing her to death.
The homeowner heard the victims' screams from inside his garage and went to investigate. The sheriff says the homeowner saw Urias stabbing the victim and yelled for him to stop. That is when Urais turned his attention to the homeowner and began approaching him with the knives according to the sheriff. The homeowner then used his body to barricade the home’s garage door shut and ordered his family upstairs and called 911.
Meanwhile, Urias’ younger brother after being attack ran down the street and flagged a passing motorist who also called 911.
Responding deputies caught up to Urias still inside the neighbor’s garage and ordered him to drop the knife. Urias complies and deputies detained him.
Sheriff Tregre says, Urias, who is from El Salvador and in the U.S. illegally, confessed to the murders and is being held at the St. John Sheriff’s Office jail but will be transported to a state facility with upgraded security.
He faces two counts of First-Degree Murder and two counts of Attempted First-Degree Murder.
Tornabene and her younger sister are dead. Urias' 15-year old brother was treated at University Medical Center and released, while his sister remains in critical condition. Urias' siblings were visiting him for the weekend. Urais had been living in the home with his girlfriend for about a month before the attack according to Sheriff Tregre.
Investigators are working to find a motive for the brutal stabbings.