Ryan Sharpe, 36 has been arrested and charged in connection with four shootings – three of them fatal – since July in Louisiana
A 36-year-old Louisiana man has been arrested and charged in connection with four shootings since July in the same area, including a Boy Scout employee who was shot and killed Monday near the camp where he worked.
Ryan Sharpe of Clinton has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, after confessing to police about the crimes he is accused of, The Advocate reported.
East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux would not comment on a motive in the drive-by shootings in East Feliciana and East Baton Rouge Parishes or say whether the suspect knew the victims.
He is accused of killing Thomas Bass, 62, on July 8, Carroll Breeden, 66, on September 19 and Brad DeFranceschi, 48, on Monday. Buck Hornsby, 47, was wounded on September 12 in a shooting that took place roughly 10 miles down Louisiana Highway 63 from DeFranceschi’s home.
Breeden, a former Baton Rouge parks official, and Hornsby both were near a road, but Bass was shot on his property.
Authorities developed Sharpe, who owned and operated Sharpe Plumbing, LLC, as a person of interest in the shootings and were conducting surveillance on his home.
They began to pursue him Wednesday around 2.50pm when he left his house in a white Nissan Altima, WBRZ reported.
Sharpe (above being arrested) is accused of killing Thomas Bass, 62, on July 8, Carroll Breeden, 66, on September 19 and Brad DeFranceschi, 48, on Monday. Buck Hornsby, 47, was wounded on September 12
That car matched the description of the shooter’s vehicle involved in the fatal incident at DeFranceschi’s home on Monday.
Sharpe then led police on a high speed chase across several parishes after not pulling over outside of his home in East Baton Rouge, authorities say.
According to his arrest report, he was eventually stopped and found to be armed with a lever action rifle on the passenger seat.
Travis said that while questioning Sharpe, confessed to the killings and shooting during interrogation, as investigators have physical evidence that show he was behind the shootings. They did not reveal what that is.
But a bullet found near Breeden’s body on Pride-Port Hudson Road matched on found in the wall of DeFranceschi’s home, according to his arrest report.
Sharpe (above being arrested) confessed to police that he committed the crimes during interrogation, authorities say
In the most recent shooting on Monday, DeFranceschi was shot multiple times about 11.15am Monday in front of his house on camp property, East Feliciana Parish Sheriff Jeff Travis said.
The Avondale Scout Reservation website lists DeFranceschi as a camp ranger – someone who maintains the camp, which is located outside Clinton and about 29 miles north of Baton Rouge.
‘He was the face of Avondale,’ Nolan Reynerson, 34, who has worked and volunteered with Boy Scouts for much of his life, told The Advocate .
He said DeFranceschi had worked there for 17 years and was a community cornerstone: ‘He put a smile on and wore his uniform proudly and was there for every event.’
Reynerson said DeFranceschi went beyond maintenance of the 1,600-acre campground, volunteering with his son’s and daughter’s scout troops, and used his experience as a Navy submarine cook to transform the camp food, improving the meals and opening a fruit and salad bar.
‘He’s become a staple in the camp,’ Reynerson said. ‘He did whatever was needed, whether it was fixing something at the camp, teaching kids merit badges … he was willing.’
Travis said that Hornsby was shot while exercising near the roadside of his property on La. 63 on September 12.
A week later, Breeden was killed while he sprayed weeds near the road in the front yard of his home in Pride, which is located over the parish line from Clinton.
At the time, police said that a vehicle drove by Breeden and gunned him down.
Then, on the morning of July 8, Bass was fatally shot while outside of house on Highway 63.
Travis said that Bass was found dead closer to his home, unlike the other shootings – which implies that the gunman would have had to walk onto the property.