Double Murder Suspect Shoots Himself After Police Standoff on Bridge
A Louisiana man shot himself Friday evening following an hours-long standoff at a New Orleans bridge as he was sought in connection with the double killings of a police officer and a woman earlier that day, police say.
Sylvester Holt shot himself on the Crescent City Connection bridge, over the Mississippi River, according to Louisiana State Police trooper Melissa Matey.
“After hours of negotiation with the Louisiana State Police crisis negotiation team, he refused to surrender and he shot himself in the chest,” says Matey. “It was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest and EMS was on the scene and rendering aid to him. He was underneath the bridge on a metal walkway and they had to put a hoist down there to get the paramedics down and then they had to hoist him back up to the ambulance.”
His current condition is unknown.
Holt had been in a stalemate there with authorities since around 10 in the morning, after allegedly fleeing the scene of a double shooting.
Investigators say he was the suspect in the Friday morning killings of Westwego, Louisiana, police officer Michael Louviere and Simone Veal, who has been alternately described as Holt’s girlfriend or his wife. Their exact relationship remains unclear.
Authorities say the shooting deaths were sparked after a crash involving Holt and Veal, both 32 — and that Louviere, 26, became involved when he stopped to assist them.
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‘A Domestic Issue’ Before the Shootings
Westwego Police Chief Dwayne Munch Sr. tells PEOPLE that Louviere was on his way home from work about 6:28 a.m. when he stopped to help Holt and Veal, who he believed were in a serious car crash.
“It was a car crash that really happened deliberately,” Munch says. “It was a domestic issue. The female victim was shot after the crash. She was laying on the highway.”
Louviere approached Holt first, to check on him, and as “he turned away from him and walks towards the female victim, it was then the suspect shot him in the back of the head,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Colonel John Fortunato tells PEOPLE. “After he the police officer, he back and the female several more times.”
Investigators allege Holt then jumped into his pick-up truck and drove off before abandoning his vehicle.
Louisiana State Police said they were notified shortly before 10 a.m. about a “possible jumper on the bridge,” Sgt. Jared Sandifer tells PEOPLE.
Munch says Louviere was a married father of two young children and a Marine Corps veteran who had done a tour in Afghanistan. His birthday was Wednesday.
He was hired with the Westwego Police Department in July 2015 and graduated first in his class at the police academy.
“He was a quiet young man and very focused,” Munch says. “We called him a rising star in the world of law enforcement.”
“Michael is the guy who is going to stop,” Munch adds, somberly. “He is the one who is going to try and help you.”
