Port Arthur Police tell KFDM/Fox 4’s Tan Radford that a robbery suspect shot and killed during an attempted robbery on Pleasure Island was in a stolen, unmarked police car taken during an undercover investigation in Opelousas, Louisiana. PAPD identifies the suspect killed as Leon Jones III, 25.
Port Arthur Police say Jones was shot and killed minutes after he left a grocery store on Pleasure Island where he tried to commit a robbery. He was shot by a man from Beaumont who was crabbing with his wife. Police say he demanded money and other property from them and fired at them from his rife.
Police responded to a reported robbery at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Island Grocery on Pleasure Island. Investigators say the suspected robber left the grocery and continued on Highway 82 heading east. According to police, the vehicle he was in had been reported stolen in Louisiana. Police Chief Tim Duriso tells KFDM/Fox 4 the man was from Opelousas.
He says the suspect got into a confrontation with a man and woman from Beaumont who were crabbing. Police say the suspect pointed a rifle at the couple and demanded money and other property. Chief Duriso says the man who was crabbing was able to get to his truck, retrieve his handgun, and exchanged gunfire with the suspect. The suspect died at the scene. The man and woman were not hit by gunfire…Â KFDM6 News