BATON ROUGE (Scripps News Lafayette) — A suspect is in stable condition in Baton Rouge Sunday, after deputies shot him during a crime spree that started with the stabbing death of his grandmother and the stabbing of his mother, and ended with three other people wounded by gunfire.
Deputies say Aaron Morgan stabbed his grandmother and mother, then stole his grandmother’s car. His grandmother, Dianne Gafford, died. His mother is expected to survive.
After the shooting, Morgan drove to the nearby Highland Marketplace shopping center to dump that car and steal another. In the process, he allegedly shot a man while trying to steal his truck, and two women while trying to steal the vehicle they were in. He finally found a running, empty vehicle and stole that one, according to EBR Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux.
Luckily, there is an Ochsner Urgent Care facility in the shopping center, and the physician and nurses on duty there came out to help the wounded until the ambulance could arrive, Gautreaux said. The man and the two women shot during the attempted carjackings are all reportedly listed in stable condition Sunday afternoon.
Morgan left in a stolen vehicle, but was spotted by deputies on Siegen Lane, the sheriff said. They pursued him until he abandoned that vehicle near the intersection of Jefferson and Bluebonnet and fled on foot. The sheriff said Morgan pointed his gun and deputies, and may have fired it, but that’s not known yet. In any event, the deputies fired at him and struck him twice. He’s now in stable condition at a local hospital, the sheriff said.
This story was originally published August 1, 2021, by KATC in Lafayette, Louisiana.
