Article Image Alt Text

This is the mobile home where the suspect lived for the last month.

Article Image Alt Text

The bullet casings of one of the Abbeville police officer were marked by the State Police.

Article Image Alt Text

Lt. David Hardy (in red shirt) and a member of the State Police look at a tree in the yard of the suspect. They are looking for bullets that may have hit the tree during the gun fire exchange.

Abbeville policemen exchange gun fire with suspect, hitting suspect; suspect identified

For last month neighbors complained suspect shot gun outside all of the time

Update: State Police has identified the suspect involved in the Sunday afternoon shooting in Abbeville as 57-year-old Clyde Burns.

An Abbeville Police Officer is lucky to be alive today after being on fired while handling a complaint of gun fire in the neighborhood on Bailey Street.
According to neighbors, for the last month, a man did not seem mentally stable because he would fire what sounded like a pistol throughout the day and night.
Neighbors heard the gun fire but did not know where it was coming from. On Sunday, a neighbor near by, was in his house when he heard gun shots at 4 on Sunday afternoon. The neighbor called the Abbeville Police Department and gave an address of where the gun shots were coming from.
An Abbeville patrolman arrived and went knock on the door of the mobile home. According to a neighbor, the man inside of the mobile home began opening fire at the police officer. The officer ran back to his patrol car and radioed in about the shooting and backup was needed.
Not long afterwards, a second patrolman arrived on scene. The two patrolmen and the man began to exchange gun fire.
According to State Police Public Information Officer Brooks David, the suspect was shot multiple times and brought to a Lafayette hospital.
As of Sunday, the suspect’s name nor his medical condition was not released. The names of the Abbeville patrolmen who exchanged gunfire were also not released.
The State Police is investigating the shooting. They spent Sunday finding bullet holes and casings throughout the yard of the suspect.
The neighbors said the suspect has been living the in the mobile home for about a month. No one knew his name or had ever talked to him.
When they saw him outside, he was always dressed in Army fatigue clothing. His car has a Mississippi license plate. He also has a motorcycle.
One neighbor said it was not uncommon to see the suspect get in his car, go around the block and then get on his motorcycle and do the same thing.

Vermilion Today

Abbeville Meridional

318 N. Main St.
Abbeville, LA 70510
Phone: 337-893-4223
Fax: 337-898-9022

The Kaplan Herald

219 North Cushing Avenue
Kaplan, LA 70548

The Gueydan Journal

311 Main Street
Gueydan, LA 70542