Sheriff’s Office to have more officers working nights after two carjackings in Chalmette the last two nights; No one injured and three arrests have been made
Melvin Pernell, photo of a carjacker in Chalmette who surrendered at a Sheriff ‘a station on Wednesday
No one was injured in either incident and three teen-agers from Violet have been arrested in the one that happened Monday night, Nov. 23, and the name of another teen-ager involved is known, warrants for his arrest have been issued and an arrest is expected shortly, the sheriff said.
“We will be putting more personnel on at night” to patrol streets and have a greater presence, Sheriff Pohlmann said. “We also encourage residents to be aware of their surroundings and if they believe they are being followed to quickly call 911 or 271-2501 to notify the Sheriff’s Office,’’ the sheriff said.
The four teen-agers in the Monday night incident implied they had a weapon but never showed one as they took a man’s car as he arrived at a house, Sheriff Pohlmann said.
Before the carjacking had been reported, a sheriff’s deputy on patrol saw the driver in the stolen car commit a traffic infraction and the teens fled in the vehicle as he tried to stop them. Ultimately they crashed on Pirate Drive in Chalmette, with two of them caught at the scene but two fled on foot and got away.
Two arrested that night, one 16 and the other 14, were placed in the parish juvenile detention center and booked with carjacking and other offenses.
A third teen who will be jailed as an adult because he is 17 surrendered Wednesday at a Sheriff’s Office station. He is Melvin Pernell of Violet, also booked with carjacking and other offenses. The fourth teen-ager involved is being sought.
In the second incident, on Tuesday night, Nov. 24, at least three males were involved as a woman was told to get out of a car she was sitting in outside a house. One had a gun. Two men fled in her car but investigators believe at least one other male fled in a second vehicle.
Investigators also believe the woman, who was in a high-end vehicle, was followed from New Orleans where she had just been and targeted for the vehicle.
Sheriff’s deputies spotted the stolen vehicle and pursued it into New Orleans, with the driver fleeing at a very high speed, the sheriff said. The vehicle was crashed at Claiborne Avenue and Franklin Avenue, with the two males fleeing on foot and escaping.
Anyone with information about those involved in the Tuesday night carjacking should call Crimestoppers at 822-1111 or the Sheriff’s Office at 271-2501.
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