Football game shooting suspect arrested August 27, 2023 Ville Platte Police Chief Al Perry Thomas reports to KVPI News that that a 15 year old juvenile from Opelousas was arrested by City Marshal officials in connection with a shooting near the Jamboree football game Friday night. Chief Thomas said the suspect was picked up and his weapon, a 9 mm handgun, was also seized by authorities about 15 minutes after the shooting took place. No one was injured in the shooting. Police found that a broken mirror from a parked vehicle was damaged from the shots fired. The shooting took place between Harvey LeBas and Court Street and police believed it was a "retaliatory" shooting in connection with recent shootings. Two shots were fired outside the football stadium around 9:00pm. School officials cancelled the final game that was about to begin as a precaution. Players, coaches and fans quickly left the stadium after hearing the shots. In another matter, one person was injured in another shooting that occurred Saturday night at the corner of Lincoln and North Stagg street. The victim was injured in the leg, treated and later released. Police believe there are three suspects involved in this shooting. No one has been arrested in this case Chief Thomas said he will be attending a special meeting called by the city for Wednesday night at 6:00pm August 30 at 6;00pm at the Ville Platte Civic Center to discuss the rash of shootings and increased crime in the city. The public is invited to attend.

Evangeline Parish School Board Meeting – August 16, 2023 The Evangeline Parish School Board met on Wednesday night. Ville Platte Elementary School faculty and staff were recognized for outstanding academic growth on the 2023 LEAP State Assessment. This is a wonderful achievement for the entire community – faculty, staff, parents and students. Raises for Support Personnel were requested. Several speakers spoke in support of raises for the Cafeteria workers and support staff across the board, and there was significant discussion. Although the Board was generally in favor of raises, the matter was tabled until the Executive Committee meeting so that a detailed evaluation of the request and the budget could be undertaken. Then, the matter can be brought back to the Board. The revised 2022-2023 General Fund, Parish-wide Maintenance, Basile Maintenance, BHS Athletic Fund and CNP Program were presented by CFO Amy Lafleur. She also presented the 2023-2024 Consolidated Budget. The budgets will be reviewed in depth by the Executive Committee on Tuesday, August 22nd, and will be brought back to the Board for a vote on September 6th. The Board approved adding two secretarial positions at the Central Office. All the requisitions and invoices were approved as well as the Consulting Agreements. Superintendent Darwan Lazard let everyone know that the school year has gotten off to a relatively smooth and successful start. Most of the campus projects are complete with the exception of the air conditioning in the Mamou Gym, projects at James Stevens and Mamou Elementary, and the Ville Platte Athletic Track. There will be Ribbon Cuttings on Monday, August 21st, at Bayou Chicot Star Academy at 10:00, Mamou Star Academy at 11:00 and Reimagine Academy after that. Superintendent Lazard is hoping that Governor John Bel Edwards' schedule will allow him to be at Mamou and Reimagine Academy. Lastly, the French Immersion Program received two private donations from Ms. Chicken and Mr. Winky Aucoin for the programs at Ville Platte at Mamou for grades K-7.

Qualifying Second Day August 9, 2023 Only three candidates qualified on Wednesday to run for office in the October primary election, according to Evangeline Parish Clerk of Court Randy Deshotel Those candidates were: Rhonda Butler, incumbent for State Representative, 38th Representative District; Dr. Thomas Fontenot, incumbent Parish Coroner Kevin "Cabon" Fontenot, candidate for Police Juror in District 7. Qualifying will end Thursday at 4;30pm at the Clerk of Court's Office in the courthouse.

Rotary Club Meeting August 8, 2023 The Ville Platte Rotary Club today (Tuesday) had as their guest speaker, Justin LaFleur, the director of "Beyond the Horizons" substance abuse clinic in Mamou. Justin has been the director of the program for the past two years and has 12 years of experience. The program has 24 beds for a 28 day period for patients with alcohol and substance abuse issues. The program includes a 12 step program toward recovery. He cited a statistic the completion rate at "Beyond the Horizons" is 81 percent while the national completion rate for similar type programs is at 60 percent. He said some 50 percent of cases involving inmates in prisons today are drug related. The program works with families in the recovery process. He was the special guest of Rotarian Angela Fontenot. In other Rotary club news, the service project committee of Pat Duplechain and Mabel Forman will be in charge of securing and preparing care baskets for needy families during the holidays; Also, the Rotary District Governor will be making his official visit to the Ville Platte Rotary Club on August 29.

Louisiana State Police Investigators have charged 23-year-old Vonteeko Lamar Anderson with 1st Degree Murder following the officer-involved shooting death of a Ville Platte City Marshal, Barry Giglio on July 31. Anderson was rebooked into the Evangeline Parish Jail on August 2, 2023, shortly after 6:30 P.M. Anderson was already being held in the jail following an investigative search preceding the Ville Platte shooting on Monday, July 31st. During that search, a weapon was found along with illegal narcotics. He was booked on the following charges: • Possession of a firearm with certain CDS offenses or while committing a crime of violence • Manufacture, distribute or possess with intent to distribute schedule I CDS At least two subjects were shot and transported to local hospitals with critical injuries; one of those subjects later died. One officer was shot and pronounced dead at the scene. Anyone with information and/or pictures and video is urged to share that information with LSP Detectives by calling 337-332-8080.