The St.
Bernard Sheriff’s Office arrested a New Orleans man after he fired a weapon in a residential neighborhood and then hid it inside a child’s playpen, according to St. Bernard Sheriff James Pohlmann.
Sheriff Pohlmann says on Friday, deputies responded to multiple calls about shots fired near the 2900 block of East St. Bernard Highway in Meraux.
Witnesses told deputies they saw a man, later identified as Jonathan Gooden, 21, fire off between three and five shots into the air and then begin walking westbound on St. Bernard Highway.
Sheriff Pohlmann said no one was injured in the incident.
Detectives spotted Gooden and detained for questioning. He was later identified as the suspect through eyewitness accounts and video surveillance.
Detectives also recovered the gun, a Draco AK47 semi-automatic assault rifle, hidden under toys in a child’s playpen inside the home of Gooden’s relative in the 2000 block of Munster Boulevard in Meraux.
Once in custody, Gooden admitted to detectives he fired the gun because he wanted to see what it sounded like.
The investigation is ongoing.
