Abbeville Police Chief Mike Hardy points to a location where there was a random shooting and no one was injured.
Abbeville Chief tracking shots fired on map
Abbeville Police Chief Mike Hardy is taking random gunfire seriously. He is so serious that he tracks each time random gunfire is called into the police department.
Chief Hardy plots with a red pin where the gunfire was reported. If anyone was hit with a bullet, he marks the location with a yellow pin.
Since January 2022, Hardy has placed 185 red pins on the map. The red pins represent one shot to as many as 60 shots fired at one location.
Just under 20 yellow pins mark where someone was hit with a bullet.
“I am keeping track to see if the shootings happen in a certain section of the city,” said Chief Hardy. “It is like an hourglass. There is a northside and a southside of Abbeville.”
Because of his mapping, Chief Hardy said there is not one area of Abbeville receiving more gunfire than the other.
In 12 months, there has been random gunfire on an average of every two days in Abbeville.
Over the last three weeks (not counting the gunfire on New Year’s Eve), 12 random gun fires have been reported in Abbeville.
This week alone, two separate incidents of random gunfire in Abbeville.
On Friday at 5 a.m., three houses were hit with bullets on Greene Street. No one was injured. Six 40-caliber bullet casings were located on the street. The next day, thanks to the city’s video camera, the police could identify the vehicle used in the shooting and the driver of the vehicle.
Abbeville’s Justice Comeaux was arrested and charged with one count of principal to attempted first-degree murder, and his bond is $150,000. He remains in jail as of Tuesday.
The person who shot the three homes has not been located. Chief Hardy said if anyone has a tip to call the police department or Hardy on his cell phone (337-316-2855).
Then, at four on Tuesday morning, the police department received a call that shots were fired at the 800 block of South Charles Street and ninth street. The police were on the scene within three minutes of the 911 call. However, after searching, no bullet casings were located. Also, no homes were hit with bullets.
Chief Hardy said to call his cell phone if anyone had a tip on who did the shooting.
“I am asking for help from the public,” he said. “We can not do this alone.”
Thanks to the map, Chief Hardy said he plans to place marked and unmarked police cars in different parts of the city to catch those who are shooting out of their vehicles.
“We will catch who is doing the shooting,” said Chief Hardy. “When we catch them, we will recommend the maximum penalty. We can not have people terrorizing the city.”
