The two young boys who were shot when, according to police, they tried to rob a man are now in custody.
Those suspects, who are 11-years-old and 13-years-old, are among the four juveniles facing charges in connection with a string of crimes in Gentilly.
Police say on Sunday, the four stole a car from Press Drive, tried to steal another car from Jay Drive, carjacked a woman on Painters Street, and then tried to rob a man on Eastern Street. According to police, the victim in the Eastern Street incident shot the two juvenile suspects. Police later arrested the two other suspects, aged 15 and 16. They are all facing first-degree robbery, attempted armed robbery with a firearm, attempted simple robbery, and illegal possession of stolen things.
The two wounded suspects remain in the hospital and will be booked after they are released from doctors' care. The other two suspects are in juvenile detention.
Police say the victim in the Eastern Street shooting is not facing charges for shooting the suspects. Attorney Dane Ciolino says it's unlikely that he will.
"Under the Louisiana Criminal Code, the use of force against another person is completely justifiable if it's used for the purpose of preventing a forcible offense against another person," Ciolino said. "The shooter here was trying to prevent these individuals here from committing a forcible crime or a forcible trespass."
But that law includes a caveat. According to Ciolino, the force used to prevent a forcible crime must be "reasonable and necessary."
"The D. A. is going to make a decision about whether or not, in his view screening the case, that he believe the force was reasonable and necessary under all the circumstances, and, if so, he won't charge it, and that will be the end of it," Ciolino said. "If he does charge it, then it would be up to a jury to decide whether the force used was reasonable and necessary under all of the circumstances."
Ciolino says the shooting may help prosecutors with their cases against the suspects.
"It certainly is character evidence that the D. A. can take into consideration,". Ciolino says "It certainly seems to corroborate that these individuals were up to no good when the shooter used what appears to be justifiable force against them."
Ciolino adds that the wounded suspects won't have any success if they try to sue the would-by victim who shot them.
"If force is justifiable under the criminal law, it's almost always going to be justifiable under the civil law," Ciolino said.
