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Shots were fired during a tense armed standoff that shut down the area near Dalrymple Drive, May Street and Lakeshore Drive on Thursday.
Officers arrested Lee Roy Williams Jr., 52, a suspect in a quadruple homicide last weekend in Calcasieu Parish, on the scene.
The Baton Rouge Police Department, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office and the LSU Police Department got a call from Calcasieu law enforcement officials saying Williams was rumored to be in the area, LSUPD spokesman Sgt. Blake Tabor said after the standoff.
An EBR Sheriff detective spotted Williams’ car in the parking lot on  Lakeshore Drive, according to EBR Sheriff Sid Gautreaux.
Gautreaux said three passengers in the vehicle were detained before Williams, the driver, sped away and nearly hit an officer before his blue Ford Explorer became lodged on a small guard rail around the parking lot. Williams continued to try to flee, but he was unable to clear the guardrail as his tires dug deep into the parking lot gravel.
“My understanding is one of the deputies did shoot at the car to disable the tires, and they also believed [Williams] was going to run over another deputy,” Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said at a news conference.
Though the suspect remained in his vehicle for most of the negotiations, Mancuso said he emerged at one point when officers believed Williams wanted the officers to shoot him. Mancuso said Williams was subdued and taken into custody by EBR Sheriff’s detectives.
Williams was taken to the Calcasieu Parish Correctional Center on Friday, according to a report by the Lake Charles American Press.
More than 30 squad cars surrounded the scene, and police eventually negotiated Williams’ surrender.
Gautreaux said District Attorney Hillar Moore was in contact with Calcasieu law enforcement and confirmed Williams is the suspect in question for the quadruple homicide.
Mancuso confirmed Williams is a “strong person of interest” in the Calcasieu Parish quadruple homicide, though that status may change after officers interview him.
The incident caused a large traffic jam on Interstate 10 near the Dalrymple exit.
Mancuso said investigations on Williams began when the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office received word from police in Iowa, La., that Williams was staying in an Iowa hotel Sunday night. From interviews with eyewitnesses, investigators determined where Williams would be in Baton Rouge on Thursday.
The incident caused distress among students, who were interrupted in their travels to and from class around the University Lakes.
Students received warning of the suspect through an emergency text message a little before 3 p.m. Thursday. The message instructed students to stay away from the area until further notice.
Another text message was sent around 3:50 p.m. saying the suspect was in custody.
Psychology sophomore Nickie Gaspard was running the around the lakes with elementary education senior Brandon Harvey and sociology junior Danielle Henry when they received the emergency text message.
Gaspard said she saw 10 police cars immediately zoom by, and the emergency vehicles continued to arrive for at least an hour. Gaspard’s car was parked in the same lot as the suspect’s car, so she was stuck walking the lakes for two hours.
“We’ve been waiting to get to our car for two hours. I’ve been sweating my butt off,” said Henry at the scene.
But Gaspard said she was pleased with the response from emergency services and the emergency text messages.
Phyllis Poulsen, who lives close to the May and Dalrymple intersection, said she was at the vet’s office when she realized what was happening near her home.
“Everybody called me and said to stay out of the neighborhood,” Poulsen said.
 
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