One dead in chaotic shootout involving police officer working security near Lafayette nightclub
LAFAYETTE LA Aug 11 2021 A man was killed and a woman was wounded in gunfire outside a Louisiana nightclub — and it’s not clear whether it was during a parking lot shootout or when people shot at a moonlighting city officer and he fired back, Louisiana State Police said in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
Investigators have not said whose bullets hit the man and woman.
The parking lot outside The District in Lafayette was crowded with fans of the Baton Rouge rapper Webbie — Webster Gradney Jr. — who had just performed there, when shooting erupted about 2 a.m. Sunday, news agencies reported.
The Lafayette Police Department officer, who was working concert security, was fired at as he approached one of the groups believed to have been part of that shootout, State Trooper Thomas Gossen said in a news release. The officer, who was not injured, fired back.
“It’s almost like one big incident,” Gossen told the newspaper. “They started shooting each other first, and he approaches a group of people he thought were shooting and then bullets start flying at him. That’s when he starts shooting and then everything just continued to spiral.”
Monday afternoon, State Police identified the man killed as Dashawn Batiste, 22, of Breaux Bridge. The woman and the officer have not been identified.
As is standard protocol, the officer is on paid administrative leave during an internal investigation.
AP
