Louisiana deputy shot during drug raid; suspect in custody

Police block off Elysian Fields Avenue at N. Claiborne Avenue as a New Orleans EMS ambulance transports a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Deputy shot multiple times in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans while serving a warrant, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. Three people were in the home when the search warrant was being served. That operation was a similar probe into drug-related violence in eastern New Orleans that culminated in the arrests of 111 suspects in the summer of 2015, said Special Agent Debbie Webber, spokeswoman for the DEA’s New Orleans’ office.

Police initially raced the deputy from the scene in the 9th Ward to the hospital in Chalmette because it was the closest medical facility. “Our officer is now being treated for his injuries at University Hospital”, said a statement from JPSO spokesman, Col. John Fortunato.

Police say also was arrested on narcotics violations.

The man suspected in the shooting, identified by police as Jarvis Hardy, was in Federal Bureau of Investigation custody.

The 35-year-old deputy was shot once in the neck and four times in his body.

The task force included law enforcement personnel from the New Orleans Police Department, Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office and the JPSO. “He went a period of time where he was not breathing”.

The raids were part of a seven-month investigation into drugs, heroin and violent offenses that resulted in about 60 arrested, Webber said.

The shooting happened in an area that abuts the levee protecting the neighborhood from the Mississippi River.

“I’ve been back here 55 years and ain’t never seen nothing this bad”, said Charles Jacobs, who lives in the Holy Cross neighborhood.

“It’s normally quiet and peaceful”, Greenleaf said of the area.