Franklin Pistol-Whipping Fight Ends With Gunfire at Fleeing Car, Two Charged

A violent argument on a Franklin street ended with one man pistol-whipped in the face and gunfire striking a car as its occupants tried to flee, according to authorities. Two people are now in custody, facing charges that range from attempted second-degree murder to acting as a principal in the alleged plot to shoot.

St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office detectives were first alerted to the incident on Sunday, August 17, two days after the altercation is said to have occurred on August 15, according to KQKI News. As reported by KLFY.com, authorities say three people were in the Franklin area when a verbal and physical altercation broke out involving 23-year-old Brian Anthony Clarkston Jr. and 21-year-old Jayla Renee Doucet.

Per authorities, Clarkston allegedly pulled out a handgun, pointed it at the victims and made threats before striking one victim in the face with the weapon. That victim suffered blunt force trauma and was treated at a local medical facility, per the KQKI News account. When the victims attempted to leave the scene in a vehicle, Clarkston allegedly fired at the car, with gunfire striking its passenger side; authorities say no one was struck by the bullets.

Fight Allegedly Turned Into Encouragement To Shoot

Doucet is accused of participating in a physical fight with one of the victims and, per authorities, encouraging Clarkston to open fire during the confrontation. That allegation is central to the case detectives built against her: rather than being accused of firing the weapon herself, she faces charges as a principal under Louisiana law, which holds that anyone who aids, abets, or counsels a crime carries the same legal responsibility as the person who commits it, according to The Ambeau Law Firm.

Detectives obtained arrest warrants for both suspects along with a search warrant for a residence connected to the case, the report notes. On Tuesday morning, the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office Integrated Special Response Team, assisted by the Franklin Police Department, executed a high-risk arrest warrant at a residence near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 2nd Street in Franklin, taking both suspects into custody without incident.

Charges Carry Decades Of Potential Prison Time

Clarkston faces three counts of attempted second-degree murder, three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated battery, and criminal damage to property, per the KLFY.com report. Under Louisiana Revised Statutes R.S. 14:27 and 14:30.1, a conviction for attempted second-degree murder carries 10 to 50 years of imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, according to FindLaw — a range that applies to each of his three counts.

Aggravated assault with a firearm, meanwhile, is a felony under Louisiana Revised Statute R.S. 14:37.4 punishable by up to $10,000 in fines and up to 10 years in prison with or without hard labor, per the Louisiana State Legislature. Doucet was booked on two counts of simple battery and principal to aggravated assault with a firearm. Both suspects were booked into the St. Mary Parish jail, and authorities have not released bond details for either defendant.

Case Heads To A Court With A History Of Long Sentences

Violent felony cases out of Franklin are tried in Louisiana's 16th Judicial District Court, where prosecutors have previously secured lengthy sentences for similar crimes — including a 25-year hard-labor sentence in an earlier Franklin attempted-murder case, according to the 16th Judicial District Attorney's Office. St. Mary Parish Sheriff Gary Driskell, a former U.S. Army military police officer who joined the department in 1990, leads the agency investigating the case from its Franklin headquarters.

The shooting adds to a string of gun-related incidents that have rattled the parish in recent weeks, including an August shooting on Highway 318 that wounded a victim near Franklin and a July incident in which gunfire struck a home and vehicle on Easy Street. Investigators were working this case while parish deputies were also several days into a statewide “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” traffic safety crackdown running from August 14 through September 7, according to WBRZ.

What sparked the initial argument between the five people involved remains unclear, and it has not been confirmed whether the handgun used in the shooting was recovered during Tuesday's arrest operation. Franklin, a St. Mary Parish community of roughly 6,461 residents with a median household income of $39,518 and a poverty rate of 27.3%, has seen its share of violent crime strain a small city's resources, according to Census Reporter data.